Convert currency at the current market rate

Hello,

I'm looking to convert some decent amounts of USD into EUR. The bank has very bad rates so that's not an option. I've done some crypto trading in the past and trading BTC/USD on an exchange is very easy. I expected it to be the same with EUR/USD, but it seems more complicated than it should. I've created a demo account on forex.com to test it and got very confused. It seems like that's not trading EUR/USD but actually betting on whether it goes up or down. I am not looking to make a profit or make any bets. I just want to sell some USD and get EUR in return at the current market ratio. What's the way to go?

Sorry if it's been asked before, but I just couldn't find anything about it. Every resource I found is trying to explain what the EUR/USD pair is...

 

This is easy to do at Interactive Brokers. You can do an FX conversion directly using the forex pair at the current exchange rate paying a very small commission (it costs me about $2 to do this). Of course you need an IB account and you will need bank accounts in both USD and EUR if you want the actual cash. Not sure if this is practical. Also it will take 2-3 days to have the funds deposited into your bank account.

 

Hi Gary, thanks for the info. So if I get it right I should make an account at interactivebrokers[dot]com and exchange it there? I already have both EUR and USD accounts, of course. A couple of days is not a big deal. One last question, do I need anything special for making an IB account, or can anyone do it?

 

Transferwise.

 

I am not looking to send money outside the country. Just converting my money.

 

As long as IB is available in your country (Finland?) it's just a matter of submitting the application then verifying your bank accounts. This may take a couple of weeks since IB needs to do their due diligence related to source of funds, etc.

 

Sounds good. Thanks a lot! Will start the process asap.

 

You can use Transferwise to convert and hold your money. No need to do an outgoing transfer.

You just deposit/convert your USD to your EUR Transferwise wallet and you are done.

 

Thanks DevBru, will take a look into that as well.

 

The rate offered by Transferwise is not the market rate and not even as competitive as the bank rates. It's not the best choice if rate competitiveness what the OP is looking for. IB is really the best in terms of rate competitiveness. You really get the market rate.