Monitoring foreign exchange (forex) rates helps you budget for fees and secure the best conversion deal. This awareness enables you to make better decisions, especially when you’re planning to travel or send money abroad.
This guide explains how often this rate fluctuates, why they do, and how these changes affect your money transfers. You'll also discover why the exchange rates you find in online search engines differ from those in banks or money transfer services.
You can also gain a clearer view of why remittance costs shift and how to plan transfers more strategically.
How often do exchange rates change?
You may be wondering, “How often does the exchange rate change?”
Because currency markets operate almost 24 hours a day1 on weekdays, market rates change continuously throughout the day. A currency's valuation hinges on real-time supply and demand. Its price rises when there are more purchasers than available sellers. Meanwhile, the currency falls when selling pressure exceeds buying interest.
Currency exchange providers and apps
Currency exchange providers typically update their publicly displayed rates once daily, although some commercial banks may offer real-time rates.
They may intentionally publish updates less frequently to manage costs and risks. Data vendors typically charge premium fees to access real-time forex figures. Moreover, supplying second-by-second updates to a large user base would also need expensive software2, bandwidth, and server infrastructure3. Hence, money-changing services may opt for a 15-20 minute delay.
Displaying forex rates at these intervals can also improve customer experience. Constantly updating feeds can overwhelm or confuse customers. Less frequent updates enable them to process information more rationally.
Banks
Commercial and retail banks update their rates differently. While commercial banks have their own policies for publishing updated rates, some may provide real-time or near-real-time quotes for large-volume transactions. Others may update their online sites or in-branch boards only once daily, just like retail banks do.
Retail banks serve individual, non-business customers. They base their rates on wholesale markets or large financial institutions that trade currencies directly with one another.
Both bank types incorporate a profit margin into their exchange rates to generate revenue, cover operational costs, and manage risks. However, commercial bank rates involve lower markups. Meanwhile, retail banks typically apply a markup and a separate processing fee.
Money transfer operators (MTOs)
MTOs update their rates in real time and are typically closer to the mid-market or "real" exchange rate. It’s the midpoint between the buying and selling prices in the forex market and doesn’t include markups yet.
Airport exchange counters
Although exchange counters track forex market fluctuations, they generally carry the rate set by their parent institution or bank for the day.
You can refer to this table for a quick answer to “How often do currency rates change by provider?”
| Type of rate | Frequency of updates | Who uses it |
|---|---|---|
| Market rate (interbank / mid-market) | Every second | Financial institutions, currency traders, Google rate displays, and financial news websites |
| Commercial banks and money transfer services | Every several seconds (10-15) to several minutes | Banks, money transfer operators, and digital remittance apps |
| Retail banks consumer rate | Typically, once a day | Traditional banks sell currency to walk-in clients |
| Airport exchange counters | Once daily | Airport currency exchange counters, hotels, kiosks |
Do exchange rates change daily?
When you check exchange rates via Google, Bing, or other search engines, what you see is the mid-market rate. It's the reference rate that service providers use, but not the amount you’ll get when you exchange or send currency through their physical office or app.
What causes exchange rates to change?
A combination of the seven economic and political factors below influences the supply and demand for a currency, and consequently, its exchange rate against other currencies.
Interest rates
Higher interest rates encourage foreign investors to pour capital into another country. Hence, when central banks raise interest rates, they can prop up a currency's value. Conversely, lower interest rates can depreciate currencies.
Inflation
A lower inflation rate can strengthen a currency's value as it increases purchasing power. When inflation rises, the perceived value of the currency declines, which makes it less attractive in the foreign market.4
Political stability
In the face of global uncertainty, investors want reliability. That's why stable political conditions marked by strong governance and forecasts of economic growth boost investor confidence. In turn, this stirs up demand for a currency.
News
Central Bank actions
Besides adjusting interest rates, central banks directly influence exchange rates by engaging in open market operations to buy or sell government securities or their currency.
Speculation and trading volumes
When traders speculate or anticipate an increase in a currency's value and buy it, demand accelerates, leading to a spike in its value. High trading volumes can amplify the effects of the move.
Time of day
Market activity fluctuates throughout the day, impacting trading volume and liquidity. Trading can be less active at the first and final hours of major trading sessions as traders react to overnight news or close positions. Then activity and volume pick up when major sessions overlap, leading to faster price changes.
The trading session operating at particular hours sees the most changes. For instance, the AUD/JPY pair fluctuates the most during the Asian trading session.
When do exchange rates change the most?
Another term to describe the frequency and extent of these changes is volatility. Low volatility means stable and gradual movements in a currency's value. Meanwhile, high volatility indicates rapid and large price swings. So, when are forex rates most volatile?
When trading sessions overlap
Peak volatility occurs from 9:00 to 17:00 GMT when the top two trading sessions (London and New York) overlap. Currency traders from the two biggest financial centers are simultaneously active during this window. Breaking economic news (employment, GDP, or inflation) from the U.S. and Europe also adds volatility within this period.
Meanwhile, the exchange rate is the least volatile in the evening in the U.S., when the New York stock market is closed.
Monday morning and Friday evening
The start and end of the business week are also the most volatile. On Mondays, prices can move sharply in the early hours as traders react to news over the weekend. Meanwhile, movements can be unpredictable in the closing hours of Friday as traders take caution over what may happen in the next two days.
Awareness of these volatility peaks can help you schedule your money transfers more effectively. Send your remittance when the sending currency is strong compared to your recipient's currency so that they can get more value from every dollar you send.
Best day of the week to exchange currency
General trends show that the best day to exchange currency is between Tuesday and Thursday. On these days, the forex spread is smaller because market activity has stabilized after a more highly volatile Monday and Friday, when trading opens and wraps up. The spread is the difference between the buying and selling prices of a currency pair.
Despite this market pattern, however, it's best to study and compare how service providers update rates and how much they charge for processing the transfer. Some use market-based pricing and make adjustments based on data feeds. Others only update rates once a day for more predictable pricing. So in reality, the "best day" depends on the provider you'll use for the remittance.
Why BOSS Money offers fair rates
With BOSS Money, you'll get more value for every money transfer because of the following:
- Transparent and frequently updated forex rates (conversion from USD to your recipient's currency)
- The exact (fixed) amount you'll pay for the money transfer
- No hidden dynamic currency conversion (DCC) services that are typically set by merchants and ATM operators — no airport-style markups
- No SWIFT fees, which banks impose for processing international wire transfers
Tips to get the best exchange rate
Here are some strategies to get the best exchange rate for your currency exchange or money transfer and minimize expenses:
- Check the exchange rate in advance using reputable online converter tools. Many providers allow people to access their websites to view indicative rates (derived from market rates) without registration or logging in. Using this feature lets you compare rates quickly.
- Search for multiple providers to compare rates and applicable fees.
- Choose licensed money transfer services to protect yourself from scams and for guaranteed fund delivery.
- Exchange or send money at a time when the exchange rates are favorable. Review the previous section, "Best day of the week to exchange currency."
- Avoid airport and hotel exchange counters because they offer the poorest exchange rates.
- Select to pay in the local currency when paying or withdrawing with your bank card to avoid unfavorable DCC rates.
- Use a no-foreign-transaction-fee (no-FX-fee) card while overseas or during travel to avoid extra charges.
FAQs
Looking for the best forex rate? Stay on top with BOSS Money
A better understanding of foreign exchange rates and the frequency of rate changes can help you make more informed choices when sending money or exchanging currency. Getting the most value from your transaction doesn’t depend on a “magic time.” Instead, monitor trends, time your remittance or currency conversion, and compare provider rates several weeks ahead. Download BOSS Money today for transparent forex rates and fees.
Sources: all third party information obtained from applicable website as of November 21, 2025
- https://www.forex.com/en/trading-guides/forex-market-hours/
- https://medium.com/@fable.fintech/what-do-fx-saas-for-banks-do-db24f4cacf2c
- https://medium.com/data-science-at-microsoft/data-currency-gain-the-temporal-edge-in-ai-f1c1c62a8681
- https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/022415/how-does-inflation-affect-exchange-rate-between-two-nations.asp
This article is provided for general information purposes only and is not intended to address every aspect of the matters discussed herein. The information in this article is not intended as specific personal advice. The information in this article does not constitute legal, tax, regulatory or other professional advice from IDT Payment Services, Inc. and its affiliates (collectively, “IDT”), and should not be taken or used as such by any individual. IDT makes no representation, warranty or guaranty, whether express or implied, that the content in this article is current, accurate, or complete. You should obtain professional or other substantive advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the information in this article.
