Personal Finance & Money Stack Exchange
Personal Finance & Money Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [currency]

For questions related to currencies or foreign exchange markets. Ideally, this tag should be accompanied by specific currency tags under discussion.

405 questions
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Why do financial institutions charge so much to convert currency?

With all the modern technology that we have, I am astonished that financial institutions charge such exorbitant prices for currency conversions. My bank, Fifth Third, charges a 3% conversion fee, while Paypal charges about 4%. I know that currency…
Chris Cirefice
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Do Americans really use checks that often?

That might sound a bit silly to people from USA but is it really that common to use checks in America? I am from Austria and here (Austria, Germany, Switzerland) checks play practically no role in daily life. I haven't actually held a single check…
Plankalkül
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How can I invest in country A to take advantage of their great interest rate while I live in country B?

If I live in the US, for example, where current interest rates are practically nil, how can I take advantage of the fact that interest rates in Australia are almost 5%?
Michael Pryor
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Are all current world currencies 'decimal'?

Historically, non-decimal monetary systems were common. E.g. pound / shilling. Every currency I can think of or have ever used is 'decimal' (where a higher/lower unit of currency is either a multiple or factor of 10). Are all currencies used by…
stevec
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Are you preparing for a possible dollar (USD) collapse? (How?)

After the last crisis it was easy for many to look back and say all the signs were there to indicate an impending crisis. Super-low interest rates from the FED, no down-payment loans, interest-only loans, under qualified borrowers, flipping of…
Muro
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It is legal for a retailer/store or other business to refuse $50 & $100 bills or other legal tender, e.g. pennies?

I'm trying to find out about businesses refusing $50 & $100 bills. Aren't they required by law to accept all legal tender? I had one person say it could be that it's not all legal (i.e. a concern for counterfeit currency) – in that case shouldn't…
Cherie-Lynn
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Explain maker taker fees

Some exchanges have fees structured like: https://www.kraken.com/help/fees. The docs say "fees are calculated as a percentage of the trade's quote currency volume". There are two columns in the chart; I'm not sure what places me in one column or the…
user41221
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Is there a reason why someone shouldn't buy into a temporarily cheap currency of an otherwise solid economy?

As everyone knows, the ruble is falling compared to the euro and it has been falling for a long time already. The way I see it, the ruble will eventually get back up once the political situation around it is resolved. Is it naive to think I can just…
Jeroen Vannevel
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How common is counterfeit money in circulation?

I've noticed recently that several places where I paid with a $20 bill, the cashiers used a small marker to detect whether the bill was counterfeit or not before accepting it. Like so: I saw this happen at the post office (multiple times) the…
Jeff Atwood
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The Venezuela Stock Market Crashed 99.90% on March 15th, 2021. What happened and why?

https://tradingeconomics.com/venezuela/stock-market Was looking at the graph above for the Venezuela Stock Market and the Caracas Stock Exchange Stock Market Index crashed 99.90% over the weekend of March 15th, 2021. It dropped from 2,700,000 to…
Wandering Fool
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Can someone make money by cycling through currencies and exchanges?

I am not a finance expert at all, but I recently got this idea from a conversation with a friend on whether it is possible to make money by starting with a fixed amount of dollars and then try and keep exchanging it for other currencies and finally…
Kaki Master Of Time
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How exactly are exchange rates determined?

I was reading about how the exchange rates are fixed. I understand that demand and supply decide the exchange rate but how exactly is it done and by whom? For example, consider US and…
vikrant
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What is the difference between these two S&P 500 ETF?

I wanted to invest in the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF which has the ISIN code US9229083632 However I just discovered it is not available in my country. As an alternative I am considering investing in Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF which has the ISIN code…
Octoplus
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How should spare change be exchanged?

So I have about $50 in pennies, dimes and nickels. What would you do with it? I'm asking because I don't think spending hours rolling up the change and taking it to the bank is the best/most creative thing. More info: I took the change to the…
MrDatabase
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Does gold's value decrease over time due to the fact that it is being continuously mined?

As one can see here ( How fast does the available amount of gold in the world increase due to mining? ), available amount of gold is increasing. That sounds similar to printing more money. I suppose demand is growing even more right now, but is it…
Enno Shioji
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