Currency & FX Fees Calculator

The spread is the real fee

The mid-market rate is the true midpoint between what buyers and sellers pay, the rate you see on Google or xe.com. Your provider quotes a worse rate; the gap is the spread, and it's where most of the cost hides. With a margin m, the amount you receive is amount × mid-rate × (1 − m), and the fee in the target currency is amount × mid-rate × m. The effective rate you got is mid-rate × (1 − m).

The scenarios

Mid-market (0%) is the theoretical no-fee benchmark. Typical bank (2.5%) reflects a big-5 Canadian bank's built-in spread, the same figure as the bank branch route; flat wire fees of roughly $10–30 apply on top, and the routes ranking adds your editable flat wire fee to the bank routes (the scenario bars show spread only). Credit card abroad (2.5%) is a typical foreign-transaction fee on top of the network rate; a handful of no-FX-fee cards charge 0%. Wise-style (0.55%) reflects specialist services that pass on close to the mid-market rate, and uses the same fee as the Wise-style route in the ranking. Custom lets you enter the exact spread your provider quoted.

The DCC trap, always pay in local currency

When a foreign terminal, ATM, or website asks whether to charge you in Canadian dollars, that's dynamic currency conversion. It looks convenient but the merchant's bank sets the rate and adds roughly 3–7%, worse than your own card. Always choose the local currency (EUR, GBP, JPY…) and let your card network do the conversion.

Where to get better rates

For transfers, specialists (Wise, OFX, Knightsbridge) beat banks by 2%+. For large CAD↔USD amounts, Norbert's Gambit through a brokerage (using an interlisted ETF like DLR) converts at essentially the mid-market rate for only trading commissions. A no-FX-fee credit card is best for travel spending. The CRA/FINTRAC require reporting on international transfers of $10,000+, and gains on foreign-currency holdings can be taxable.

The charts

What the spread costs you shows the fee for each scenario, amount × mid-rate × spread, in the currency you receive (the tooltip adds the Canadian-dollar figure). The outlined bar is your scenario and matches the fee card above. It is spread only; flat wire fees appear in the routes ranking.

The bars in the routes ranking scale each route's cost on your amount against the dearest route on the list (usually the bank branch with its wire fee), so the gap you save is visible at a glance.

Cost vs amount draws what one conversion costs on each route, flat fee + percentage × amount, plus your wire fee on bank routes, from $1 up to a round figure (at least $10,000) with room past your amount and past the break-even. Every line is straight, so the break-even marker, where the cheapest plotted route changes hands, is exact. Routes that differ only by a flat fee (the three gambit variants, the two in-app conversions) show once, the cheapest; routes with a different percentage get their own line. Dashed lines marked ~ are estimates with no posted price; when the cheapest small-amount route is one of them, the caption also gives the handoff on posted prices alone. The line starts at $1 rather than $0 because converting nothing costs nothing: at $1 each line starts at its true flat fee.

How often to convert appears when you convert regularly. Each cell is the yearly cost of converting the same yearly total in k equal pieces, k × cost(yearly total ÷ k), so the cell for your frequency equals the per-year figure in the ranking. Percentage fees are flat across a row; flat fees shrink as you batch. It does not price the cost of holding cash longer or the risk that the rate moves while you wait.

What this doesn't model

Flat fees beyond the wire fee you set for the bank routes, ATM withdrawal fees, minimum amounts or tiered rates (FX brokers often quote their best prices on $10,000 or more), or how rates move minute to minute. Rates are indicative reference values as of the date shown above. If you hold foreign currency as an investment, gains may be taxable, see the capital gains calculator.