What this converter uses
Rates come from the European Central Bank reference rates: a single snapshot published each working day, usually around 16:00 CET, covering 30 currencies against the euro. Everything else is a cross calculated from those.
That has two consequences worth stating before you use the number:
- It is not live. Between publications the market has moved. On a quiet day that is a fraction of a percent; around a central bank decision it can be more.
- It is not tradable. No bank, broker or exchange will fill you at the reference rate, because that rate contains no spread and spread is how conversion is paid for.
Both of those are true of every free converter online. The difference is that this one says so.
Why the rate you get is always worse
The gap between the published rate and your actual fill is the cost of the conversion, and it is charged in one of three ways, sometimes all three:
- A marked-up rate. The most common and the least visible: the conversion is quoted at 1.5–4% away from mid-market and described as commission-free. It is not free; the fee has simply been moved inside the price.
- An explicit fee, usually a fixed amount plus a percentage.
- A weekend or after-hours markup, applied when the interbank market is thin.
Compare your fill against the reference rate for the same day and the difference is what the conversion cost you. On a $10,000 transfer, 2% is $200 that never appeared on a statement line.
Where this matters for a trading account
Three places, and all three quietly change your numbers:
Account denomination. If your account is in CAD and you trade EURUSD, every result is converted before it reaches your balance. Your P&L in the platform and your P&L in your own currency drift apart over a year, and the drift is not your trading.
Pip value. For a pair XXX/YYY the pip is naturally denominated in YYY. An account in a third currency needs a conversion, which is why the pip value calculator asks for a rate instead of guessing one.
Statement reconciliation. When a broker statement disagrees with your own record, the conversion date is a frequent cause — brokers convert at their rate at the moment of closing, not at the daily reference, and the two are never identical.
Rounding and small amounts
The result is shown to two decimals, which is right for money and wrong for rates. For calculating position sizes or pip values, use the rate itself rather than the converted total: rounding a conversion and then multiplying it by 100,000 units turns a cosmetic rounding into a real one.