Can I really exchange money in Forex?

External question — Personal Finance Stack Exchange Author: Green Original post: https://money.stackexchange.com/questions/128188 License: CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Adaptation: HTML converted to plain text; contact email addresses removed. Suppose I've got Euros and I'm in a country that uses Euros as their official currency. Suppose I need dollars. Can I somehow use forex trading to convert my Euros into Dollars? How would I then be able to receive or spend those Dollars (for example for when I travel to the US, or use an online service that requires US bank routing/account numbers, or etc)? I know I can do it in any local currency exchange stall. But Forex currency rates look more interesting because I have bigger amounts and don't want to loose difference.

External answer — Personal Finance Stack Exchange Author: Fattie Original post: https://money.stackexchange.com/a/163210 License: CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Adaptation: HTML converted to plain text; contact email addresses removed. @trusktr please state using words how much money you are talking about, as this simple question is causing huge time-use For the record ... When you mention "Forex" you are thinking of the actual currency trading markets like you see in movies , guys on "Wall St" with banks of computer monitors. You can only "trade the Forex markets" when you are talking tens of millions of dollars. It's not for "civilians". Good news for anyone who's been on Mars for 5-10 years , these days simply use any of the wildly popular INTERNATIONAL ONLINE CURRENCY EXCHANGE / "CHEAP TRANSFER" BUSINESSES which exist for this purpose . In fact the rates are basically exactly the same as if you were trading millions of dollars. So it's a non-issue. "wise.com" (previously "transferwise") is currently by far the biggest such service, but there are three or four of them. note. if you have a brokerage account (ie for stock market trading), or even just any good international bank, most of them offer currency exchange as a convenience. once again, the rate you'll get is basically the "real" as you put it market rate Summary ... It's nowadays trivial to get the "real" market rate even if you're only selling a small amount. Enjoy. Note that you can instantly verify this by literally just tapping on the internet to see current rates, whenever you are reading this. Bonus Not only is the exchange rate as such perfect, these businesses have absolutely slashed the cost of the transfer itself in almost all cases. (This is done by, in a word, using local accounts behind the scenes, beyond the discussion here.) We use to pay THOUSANDS of bucks a month in wire fees in the old days, it is all gone with the wind. Whether I'm sending a few hundred bucks to a supplier or six figures, transfer costs are almost always negligible, pennies. Bottom line For anyone who's been on Mars for 5-10 years this is now a total commonplace, even more so since this old question, tap wise.com (or any of the 2 or 3 competitors)

External answer — Personal Finance Stack Exchange Author: AKdemy Original post: https://money.stackexchange.com/a/163220 License: CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Adaptation: HTML converted to plain text; contact email addresses removed. The best method for exchanging currency largely depends on several factors: the amount to be exchanged, the frequency of exchanges, the method of exchange (physical bills or direct bank transfers), and the type of bank account (whether you have an USD account at the same or a different bank). Without these details, providing a precise answer is challenging. Generally, for smaller, retail-sized exchanges, many online platforms offer rates close to institutional quotes. For instance, Revolut provides exchange rates nearly identical to those on Bloomberg's ALLQ page. Revolut's website notes that no fees apply during weekdays (from 6pm New York time on Sunday to 5pm New York time on Friday) if you stay within your plan's fair usage limit. Exceeding this limit incurs a 1% fee for standard customers and a 0.5% fee for Plus customers , with limits resetting every 30 days. This makes services like Revolut a cost-effective option for retail exchanges. For larger transactions, such as those by medium-sized enterprises, direct engagement with banks is usually advisable. Many banks offer Forex trading tools, and smaller banks often use white label tools like those from 360T . These tools route requests to market makers, ensuring you receive the best available quote without directly seeing the market makers.