The mid-market rate is the midpoint between what buyers are bidding for a currency and what sellers are asking for it. It is the real exchange rate, the number you get when you search a currency pair, and it is almost never the rate you are quoted. Most banks in our markets quote business customers 2 to 4% away from it. At 2.5% on a $10,000 payment, that gap is $250 you were never shown.
Everything else on this page is how to spot that gap and how to price it.
What is the mid-market rate?
Currencies trade in a wholesale market where, at any moment, there is a price people will pay for dollars and a slightly higher price people will sell them for. The first is the bid, the second is the ask, and the mid-market rate sits exactly between them. It is not an opinion or an average of retail offers. It is the reference price the wholesale market is working from right now.
Because it is a midpoint, nobody transacts at it in the wholesale market either. The spread between bid and ask is the market maker's compensation, and on major pairs it is small, a fraction of a basis point on liquid pairs and wider on thin ones. The 2 to 4% you are quoted has almost nothing to do with that spread. It is a retail margin sitting on top.
Why is the rate on Google the mid-market rate?
Because it is the only rate that can be quoted without knowing who is asking. Search engines, Reuters, Bloomberg terminals and the rate widget in your accounting software all publish the mid-market rate, because a buy rate and a sell rate depend on the institution, the amount and the customer. The midpoint is the one honest single number.
That is what makes it useful to you. Your bank cannot argue with it. It is a public, independently published reference, and every quote you receive can be measured against it in one subtraction.
Our glossary entry for mid-market rate has the definitional version in a hundred words if you need something to paste into an email.
How do banks charge without charging a fee?
They move the rate and keep the difference.
Suppose the mid-market rate for a pair is 100. Your bank offers to convert your dollars at 97.5 and tells you the transfer itself is free. It is free. The 2.5% you paid was in the rate, it was collected the moment the conversion happened, and it will never appear as a line on a statement because it is not a fee. It is a price.
This is entirely legal, widely practised, and it is why comparing providers on advertised fees produces the wrong answer nearly every time. A provider charging $0 with a 3% spread costs you more on a $10,000 payment than one charging $45 with a 0.5% spread. On those numbers it is $300 against $95.
Two smaller versions of the same move are worth knowing. Some providers quote a good rate and then apply it to a smaller amount, having deducted a fee first. And some quote the rate at the moment you start rather than the moment you confirm, so a slow flow is a more expensive one. Ask when the rate you were shown is locked.
How do I check any quote in 30 seconds?
Three steps, and you can do them on your phone while the quote is on screen.
- Search the currency pair. The number that comes back is the mid-market rate.
- Take the difference between that number and the rate you were quoted, then divide it by the mid-market rate. If the quote is 97.5 against a mid-market rate of 100, the gap is 2.5 and the markup is 2.5%.
- Multiply that percentage by the amount you are converting. That is what the conversion costs you, in money, today.
Do this once on your last three payments and you will have a number for what conversion costs your business annually. Most people running the exercise for the first time find it is larger than every visible banking fee they pay combined.
What does the markup cost at each level?
On a single $10,000 conversion, this is what each markup takes, and what the provider tends to call it.
| Markup above the mid-market rate | Cost on $10,000 | How it is usually described |
|---|---|---|
| 0.45%, minimum $1Fasset conversion on the Business plan, charged as a visible fee | $45 | Priced conversion, shown before you confirm |
| 1.0% | $100 | Competitive rates |
| 2.5%The midpoint of what most banks quote business customers | $250 | No transfer fee |
| 4.0% | $400 | No transfer fee |
Accurate as of September 2026. The 2 to 4% range reflects rate markups quoted to business customers in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia and the Gulf; 2.5% is the midpoint we model sitewide. The Fasset row is the Business plan conversion price; Enterprise prices are on the pricing page. Put your own amount and markup into the transfer fee calculator.
The row that matters is the third one. A business converting $10,000 a month at 2.5% pays $30,000 over ten years for a service that is, functionally, a database write.
What should conversion actually cost?
A provider converting currency has real costs: liquidity, settlement, compliance and the risk it holds between your instruction and the trade. That is worth paying for, and it is worth paying openly. We price conversion per plan, state every price on the pricing page, and show the number before you confirm, so the fee is a fee and the rate is the rate.
You do not have to use us to benefit from this. Ask any provider one question in writing: what is your markup over the mid-market rate. A provider that answers with a percentage is quoting you a price. A provider that answers by talking about fee-free transfers is quoting you a rate, and the price is inside it.
Fasset Business is a technology platform, not a bank. Banking, payment and card services are provided by licensed third-party institutions in each market, and client funds are held at those institutions, separately from Fasset's own money.