Canada - Canadian Dollar - Currency Guide

General Currency Info - Canadian Dollar

Representing a little more than 5% of the foreign exchange market daily turnover, the Canadian dollar (ISO: CAD) is the world’s sixth most traded currency.

Frequently called the ‘loonie’ by foreign exchange traders due to the image of a loon (an aquatic bird) on Canada’s one-dollar coin, the currency’s value is heavily influenced by commodities prices, particularly oil. For this reason, the Canadian dollar is often labelled a ‘petro-currency’. Canada currently has the world’s third largest oil reserves and is the world’s fourth largest oil exporter.

Canadians are mostly concerned with the value of their currency against the US dollar, since nearly 80% of Canadian exports go south of the border. In the past two decades, the Canadian dollar lowest value against its US counterpart occurred in January 2002 when the CAD/USD exchange rate traded at just 0.6178. The currency’s two-decade high occurred in November 2007 (following a boom in the oil price) when CAD/USD reached 1.1041.

CAD News, Forecasts and Trends

The combination of an eroded US interest yield advantage, a broadly positive riskon mood and renewed euro demand, could be a catalyst to push the Canadian dollar along. The combination of an eroded US interest yield advantage, a broadly positive riskon mood and renewed euro demand, could be a catalyst to push the Canadian dollar along.

The Canadian dollar was range bound during the second half of 2019 oscillating between US75c and US76.5c. Mid-year the loonie stormed ahead in June and July, rising to what turned out to be the 2019 high against the US dollar of US76.7cents and to 8-month highs against the euro, pound, Australian and New Zealand dollars. Against the Aussie, a minimal additional increase would take CAD to a 9-year high.

Supporting the loonie was a 10 percent rise in the oil price (oil is among Canada’s most exported products but is volatile and can’t be relied upon), a large and welcome jump in inflation, and dovishness at major central banks of the world, including the Federal Reserve, ECB and RBA.

For more CAD currency market forecasts you can read the full article Canadian Dollar Forecasts. The above interactive chart shows the USD to CAD exchange rate, trend and recent alerts for the last 90 days.

Travel, Currency and Money saving tips for Canada

Accessing ATMs and banks is not a problem in Canada with any major credit card.

Getting around by train is a popular way of travel in Canada as it is a big place. Booking a sleeper car can be comfortable for long distance overnight stretches. VIA Rail Canrailpass gives you 12 days of unlimited rail travel in Canada during a 30-day period, check VIA Rail's website for current prices. Bus travel in Canada is an economic and comfortable way to travel, Canada's system of intercity bus routes spans the entire country. Some cities also offer flexible transit passes so you can have unlimited all-day, multi-day, or monthly travel.

Travel money for Canada

Save money and time by Ordering your Canadian Dollars online from Travelex, you get better rates and can pick up the CAD cash locally or even on travel day at the airport.

Another popular option is to use a Pre-paid Travel Card. Your Debit/Credit Card provider will charge you 2% from market mid-rate, but your bank may also charge an extra 3% as an “Overseas Transaction Charge” plus “Overseas ATM” fees for withdrawing cash.

For card purchases if offered a choice of currencies always select to Pay in Canadian Dollars otherwise you may get much worst exchange rates.

Sending money to Canada

When searching around for information on how to get a good exchange rate when sending money to Canada you need to start with finding out the latest Canadian Dollar exchange rate for foreign-transfers, which can be very different to the wholesale rate.

Then compare your bank's exchange rates to several licensed FX providers exchange rate and fees to see how much you can save - we make that calculation easy in the below table.

Get a better deal for foreign transfers to Canada

When sending money to Canada it’s important to compare your bank’s rates & fees with those we have negotiated with our partner money transfer providers. To get a better deal you should follow these 4 simple steps :

1. Open an account with a BER reviewed FX provider (id docs may be required)
2. You specify the local or Canadian Dollar amount you want to transfer
3. Make a local currency domestic transfer for the requested amount to the provider's bank account in your country
4. Once your funds are received by the provider the converted CAD amount will be transfered to the recipient account you specify in Canada.

Use the above Send to Canadian Dollars calculator to compare the exchange rates of FX specialist providers rates versus your bank's standard rates you can hopefully save around 5% and maybe more - end result is more Canadian Dollars deposited into the recipient bank account and less margins and fees kept by the banks!