Mid-market rate

The mid-market rate (sometimes called the “interbank rate” or “spot rate”) is the midpoint between the bid (buy) and ask (sell) prices that banks quote each other on the wholesale currency market.

It’s the rate two banks would actually transact at — and the rate published by reference sources like the European Central Bank, Bloomberg, and Reuters. It’s not the rate any retail customer gets. Retail conversions add a spread on top, ranging from 0.3% (specialist forex providers like Wise) to 4%+ (traditional bank wires, dynamic currency conversion at ATMs).

Convertitive’s currency converters display the ECB mid-market rate. Use it as a baseline to evaluate any quote you receive — the bigger the gap, the more your provider is charging in spread.