Exchange Rates for Everyone

How to identify the ideal FX dataset

for each role and use case

oanda.com/fx-for-business Foreign exchange (FX)

Exchange Rates
What’s in this e-book?
for everyone FX market movements affect different
organizational roles in different ways. It’s crucial
Foreign exchange (FX) is a global 24-hour to use the correct data set for the job whether it’s
marketplace with over $3 trillion dollars for financial processes, product development, or
traded each day: that’s larger than the New to understand market sentiment. In this e-book,
we identify the ideal FX dataset for
York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, and Tokyo each professional.
Stock Exchange combined!

Despite its size, FX is among the least Accounting & Finance

transparent markets globally. Unlike equity
Daily Average Rates to serve their day-to-day
markets, FX is a decentralized or over- function, conveniently populated inside ERP and
the-counter (OTC) market, where different other financial systems
currency rates can be valid at the same
time, as long as buyer and seller agree on Auditors
a price. The fact that there is no central
Historical exchange data to execute thorough
authority, also unlike equity markets, audits
contributes to the opaque nature of the
FX marketplace. This highlights why it’s
critical to work with rates from a trusted
Hedge Fund & Fintech Leaders
source whose data is a true reflection of Tick-by-tick and a trading platform’s order book
to get real time market data
the market consensus.

The FX market’s size and volatility make Treasury

it too important and unpredictable for A variety financial of data to facilitate successful
organizations to overlook. Global market risk management
movements and fluctuations in currency
exchange rates, affect job functions across Product Managers
the organization on a daily basis - and in Daily and real-time foreign exchange data for
some cases, in real-time. products, apps, and websites. Often for price
localization
There are many different types of FX
data sets to choose from, so how can Software Developers
professionals understand which is best Real-time and daily average rates via API for an
for them? This guide identifies the ideal dev-friendly integration
FX dataset based on job function and
business need.

E-book: Exchange Rates for everyone

Accounting
& Finance
It’s not easy task to balance multiple
local entities, regulatory standards, and
exposure to different currencies. As
masters of navigating the tumultuous
business landscape, accountants and
more broadly finance professionals, use
daily average exchange rates to serve
their day-to-day functions. These daily
average rates are the calculated average
of the currency intraday fluctuations and
can be conveniently populated inside ERP
systems and other financial applications.

Daily average rates are used globally for

financial reporting, invoicing, accounting,
audit support, and reconciling company’s
financial books. In certain circumstances,
other period averages may also be
required, including weekly, monthly,
quarterly, and yearly averages, though
the daily average exchange rate will
serve most accountant’s needs. In some
cases, Central Bank exchange rates will
also be required in place of Market rates,
to comply with local regulations when
companies are operating within certain Daily average exchange
territories. Not many providers offer both rates are the calculated
market rates AND Central Bank exchange average of the currency
rates. And when they do, it is too often intraday fluctuations.
the work of rates aggregators who have
very little knowledge of or control over
the actual data they’re delivering. Finance
professionals know this far too well and
tend to prefer trusted data providers who
are also FX market-makers.

E-book: Exchange Rates for everyone - Accounting

Audit
Because auditing looks back at client’s
financial records and cross-border
transactions, auditors need access to
accurate historical exchange rate data in
a convenient format (spreadsheets are the
standard) in order to execute a thorough
audit.

To complicate things, auditors often work

outside their office visiting clients onsite
across the globe. Because of this, auditors
need a flexible cloud-based tool to provide
access to historical exchange rates anytime
and anywhere. The data should be also be
downloadable and customizable in order
to compare multiple currencies at one time
as well as choose the type of rate needed,
such as bid, ask, or midpoint, or use a
specific Central Bank as the source of data
on a case-by-case basis.

These professionals will use historical

exchange rates data when auditing their
clients’ financial and tax reports. Due to
the over-the-counter nature of the FX Historical exchange
market, foreign exchange transaction and rate data should
reporting is where auditors will look for be downloadable
intentional or unintentional oversights, and customizable
inconsistencies, or plain fat-finger mistakes.
in order to compare
Relying on a trusted and flexible data set
multiple currencies
and tool will make the job easier.
at one time.

E-book: Exchnage Rates for everyone - Audit

E-book: Exchange Rates for everyone - Audit
Hedge Fund
Managers, and
FinTech Leaders The key here is to
retrieve data from
Hedge fund managers and Fintech leaders an actual market
will use tick-by-tick foreign exchange data participant who can
or a trading platform’s order book to power provide a real-time
sophisticated and big data analysis and
view of the market.
research for high-frequency trading,
algo-trading, market modeling, interactive
charting, financial tickers, backtesting,
managing FX risk and more.

Tick-by-tick data is updated every time

an exchange rate changes - which can be
many times a second - and delivers large
batches of data on the millions of exchange
rate movements throughout a single day.
This type of data is used for calculations
that require a real-time view of the FX
landscape. The key here is to retrieve
data from an actual market participant
such as OANDA, who can provide a
real-time and consensus view of the
market at any point in time.

Alternatively, a trading platform order book

can be used to view open FX orders (both
buy and sell) as well as open positions for
a period of time (the previous 24 hours is
usually common practice). Open orders
could be interpreted as an indicator of the
price expectations that are contributing
to natural resistance and support levels,
while open positions could be an indicator
of market reaction to price changes and
the pressure on prices due to unrealized
profit and loss. Order book data provides
excellent stats and insights into foreign
exchange market sentiment.

E-book: Exchange Rates for everyone - Hedge Fund and Fintech

Treasury
In the current economic environment
managing corporate financial risk and
cross-border cash flows is not an easy task.

Multi-currency risk management was once

a relatively straightforward part of the
treasury job, however, persistent FX market
volatility has changed all that. Now, CEOs,
CFOs and shareholders all watch currency This variety of FX and other financial data
management with a magnifying glass. set may differ by use case, but commonly
Couple this with the burden of regulation includes:
and criticism over where treasurers are
“parking” their cash, and it’s
fair to say that the treasury specialists have Daily average exchange rates
been thrown into the spotlight. This Central Bank exchange rates
means that treasurers who are masters of
multi-currency cash management need a Real-time or “spot” exchange rates
specific set of data to facilitate successful Forwards
risk management as well as FX exposure
summaries, FX gains and losses, hedging Interest rates (e.g. LIBOR, Euribor)
and swaps
positions and hedge coverage ratios.
Yield curves

With so many data sets in the mix,

automation becomes an absolute
necessity. Standard business
procedures for finance and treasury
professionals has evolved into an
almost entirely automated environment.
API delivery of data guarantees an
uninterrupted flow of up-to-date
information while offering flexibility
to plug the data stream directly into
ERP and treasury systems - all while
maintaining accuracy of data and
reliability of delivery.

E-book: Exchange Rates for everyone - Treasury

Software
Developers
In a fast-moving global marketplace, Daily average rates
retrieving current information in a reliable
and secure data feed is most important Are also commonly delivered via
- for both consumer and business-facing RESTful APIs, and are usually used to
applications. Whether an ecommerce provide the accounting and finance
website, personal banking app or vendor teams with automated exchange rates
management system, developers must data for ERP, billing and accounting
now ensure their programs can execute systems.
accurate currency conversion and FX
The risk here is that a seemingly dev-
functionality. Developers are adjusting
friendly solution might be selected which
quickly to global best practices by
does not also guarantee accuracy of the
building multi-currency functionality
data, despite the lower cost. In truth,
into products and software to power
both dev-friendliness and accuracy
apps, pricing engines, and websites.
are needed, to avoid compromising
Commonly, these devs utilize
the product or service quality and
real-time rates but may also need daily
ultimately the company’s bottom line.
averages, depending on the use case.
It’s important to receive FX data from a
provider who can deliver accurate data
Real-time rates
in an easy-to-integrate manner through
Are commonly delivered via RESTful a reliable infrastructure.
API which provide data in formats such
as JSON, XML, and CSV to best serve
developer’s needs. These rates are
updated every few seconds (every 5
seconds is common practice) to power
digital products, apps and websites.

E-book: Exchange Rates for everyone - Developers

Product Managers
Product Managers will embed daily or
real-time foreign exchange data within
products, apps, or websites, with pricing
localization being one of the most common
use cases.

The choice between a daily or real-time feed

will be dictated by the nature of the product
or site and its sensitivity to movements
of the FX market. For example, travel Price localization
sites might use daily average FX rates to One of the most common reasons why
power global pricing engines or currency Product Managers seek FX data, is
conversion. Whereas financial websites may a critical component of e-commerce
leverage real-time rates, updated every few platforms thanks to increasingly global
seconds, in order to showcase currency transaction patterns. A study done by
trends or engage clients with interactive Profitwell saw that companies who
charting, all powered from current exchange failed to price their products in the local
rates data. There are an infinite number currency had a higher cart-abandonment
use cases for Product Managers that need rate and sold 30% less overall versus
FX rates for product development, most of companies that localized their pricing for
which call for either of these two types of their clients. Pricing goods and services
market data. in the local currency not only increases
sales, it also provides a higher quality
user experience, meaning that customers
are more likely to shop and come back
for more.
30% System reliability is crucial for these
less
professionals who rely on a third party for
the data that will ultimately power their
products. It’s risky business to get data
Companies who failed
to price their products in from unsecure and unknown sources,
the local currency had a or integrate cheap FX solutions where
higher cart-abandonment data accuracy or the stream of data
rate and sold 30% less
may be compromised. Due diligence on
overall versus companies
that localized their pricing the vendor’s technology stack, support
for their clients. platform and overall stability is key.

E-book: Exchange Rates for everyone - Product Managers

The OANDA Rates®
No matter the role in the company or the data Ease of Integration
set needed, one underlying theme applies: FX
data must be accurate and reliable. Our REST API is simple to use with any
application environment or ERP System
(See our ERP Matrix for integrations),
Accuracy and we also provide resources such as
Due to the nature of the currency market, ERP integration documentation and our
providing an accurate rate becomes an art and developer portal to make things even easier.
a science; that’s why at OANDA we are able Our API supports JSON, XML & CSV, which
to provide what is widely considered the gold makes it a flexible, and modern technical
standard in exchange rates since we are in the solution for any process, product or
unique position to: software needing exchange rate data.

Access the main players in the foreign

exchange market in real-time.
Rely on a broad range of redundant Reliability
(and reputable) data sources.
OANDA’s 20 year track record of reliability
Aggregate all the data points from one in FX is one of the reasons why thousands
trading day.
of companies globally such as Google,
Calculate a time-weighted-average-price Tesla, Alibaba and KPMG, trust OANDA’s
(or TWAP). exchange rates. Our API provides access
to over 200+ currencies, commodities,
and precious metals, over 38,000 currency
pairs, as well as Central Bank exchange
rates sourced from 25 global Central Banks.

E-book: Exchange Rates for everyone - Accuracy and Reliability

About OANDA

Want to know more about OANDA Exchange Rates We also offer a 25%+ discount when you sign up
API to automatically retrieve FX data. with a team of 5 or more users. Request a Pro
Team Plan here.
Be sure to check out our full line of FX products
including OANDA’s Exchange Rate API to Our FX payments services complete our offering
automatically retrieve forex data for ERP systems, with OANDA Money Transfer, a solution designed
digital products, fintech apps, as well as accounting to assist individuals with personal payments in
and treasury software. over 170 countries and territories, and Corporate
FX Payments, dedicated to businesses with global
OANDA’s popular web application, the Historical payments and FX risk management needs.
Currency Converter, allows users to manually
retrieve historical data back to 1990 via convenient
CSV download.

Want to know more about OANDA Exchange Rates

API to automatically retrieve FX data?

Visit
oanda.com/fx-for-business

Or contact us via phone or email:

Toll-free: 1-800-826-8164
International: +1-212-390-8735
Email: fxdata@oanda.com

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