About the Currency Converter

What it does

Converts an amount from one currency to another using an exchange rate. Optionally applies fees or a custom rate and can show historical conversions.

Key FX concepts

• Base currency: The currency you have.
• Quote currency: The currency you want.
• Exchange rate: Price of 1 unit of base in quote (e.g., 1 USD → 0.92 EUR).
• Mid/Interbank vs. retail: Banks quote a spread around mid; retail users pay the worse side + fees.
• Spread/fee: Difference between buy and sell or an explicit markup.

Fields in this calculator

• Amount: Money in base currency to convert.
• From (base): Source currency code (e.g., USD, PKR, EUR).
• To (quote): Target currency code.
• Rate source: Live or latest available rate; optionally a selected historical date.
• Fee/Markup (%) (optional): Extra cost applied to the rate or to the converted amount.
• Custom rate (optional): Override the fetched rate to match your bank/broker.
• Date (optional): Historical conversion for that day’s closing rate.

How conversion is calculated

Let:
  A  = amount in base
  R  = base→quote mid rate (quote per 1 base)
  F  = fee/markup as decimal (e.g., 2% → 0.02)

Effective rate R_eff:
  If fee applied to rate:   R_eff = R × (1 - F)
  If fee applied to amount: R_eff = R ; Converted = (A × R) × (1 - F)

Converted amount in quote:
  Q = A × R_eff
      

Outputs

• Converted amount: Value in the target currency at the effective rate.
• Rate used: Mid or custom, after any markup.
• Implied fee cost (if provided): Difference vs. mid-rate conversion.

Advantages

• Simple, transparent conversion with optional fee modeling.
• Historical mode for past-dated conversions and charts.

Limitations

• Real trades may have additional bank spreads and fixed fees.
• Rates move intraday; historical daily rates are end-of-day snapshots.

Good practice

• Compare your bank’s offered rate to mid to see true markup.
• For large transfers, request a firm quote; small markups compound on big sums.
• If converting often, track average rate and timing instead of chasing ticks.

Educational estimate. Not a trading quote. Check your bank or broker for executable rates and fees.