What Is the Mid-Market Rate? (And Why Your Bank's Rate Is Worse)
By Today's Currency Rates · Updated June 19, 2026
When you look up “USD to EUR” and see one clean number, that’s almost always the mid-market rate — and it’s the rate we publish on every page of this site. But when you actually exchange money at a bank, airport, or app, you get a different, worse number. Understanding the gap is the single most useful thing you can learn about currency.
The mid-market rate, defined
At any moment, currencies trade in a global market where there’s a price to buy (the bid) and a price to sell (the ask). The mid-market rate — also called the interbank or mid rate — is simply the midpoint between those two. It’s the fairest, most neutral measure of what one currency is worth in another, which is why it’s the benchmark used by Reuters, central banks, and data providers.
It is not a rate you can usually transact at as a consumer. Banks and brokers buy currency near the mid rate in huge volumes; they sell it to you with a margin on top.
Where the gap goes
The difference between the mid-market rate and the rate you’re offered is the provider’s markup (or “spread”). It is often invisible because there’s no line item for it — the rate itself is just quietly worse. Typical markups:
| Where you exchange | Typical markup over mid-market |
|---|---|
| Specialist transfer apps | 0.3%–1% |
| High-street banks | 2%–4% |
| Airport / hotel kiosks | 5%–12% |
| Credit-card “dynamic currency conversion” | 3%–8% |
On a $2,000 exchange, the difference between a 0.5% app and a 10% airport kiosk is about $190 — for the exact same money.
How to use this
- Look up the mid-market rate first (that’s what we show). It’s your baseline.
- When a provider quotes you a rate, divide to see their markup:
markup = (mid − quoted) / mid. - Anything over ~1–2% means you can almost certainly do better elsewhere.
A small markup on a small holiday spend doesn’t matter much. On a house deposit, tuition payment, or salary transfer, it’s worth minutes of comparison.
The rates on this site are indicative mid-market reference rates, sourced from the European Central Bank (fiat) and CoinGecko (crypto). They’re for information — always confirm the exact rate with your provider before you transact.