Foreign Exchange Guide to Mexico

Mexican Peso (MXN) general currency information

What is the Mexican Peso currency code and symbol?

The three letter currency code for the Mexican Peso is MXN and the symbol is $.

Which countries use the Mexican Peso?

It is the domestic currency in Mexico.

Contributing to a little more than 2% of the foreign exchange market daily turnover, the Mexican peso is the world’s second most traded emerging market currency, behind only the Chinese yuan. The peso is subdivided into 100 centavos.

The peso’s value is heavily influenced by commodities prices, particularly oil.

As an emerging market currency, the peso is considered riskier than currencies from major developed nations, which means that its value will fall against those currencies (especially JPY, CHF, USD, GBP and EUR) during periods of economic uncertainty or when global geopolitical risk is elevated, or during bouts of high market volatility.

Mexicans are mostly concerned with the value of their currency against the US dollar, since more than 80% of Mexican exports go to the US, with whom Mexico shares a free trade agreement.

The peso has consistently depreciated against the dollar since it's all-time high in 1972, when USD/MXN traded at just 0.01. By 1990, USD/MXN was at 2.7; at the end of 1994, after the currency was devalued by Mexico’s government, USD/MXN stood at 5.7; by the year 2000, the USD/MXN was meandering around 9.5; in 2009, the rate reached 15.6; and in January 2017, the peso reached an all-time low when USD/MXN traded as high as 22.03.

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Mexican Peso (MXN) in the markets

The peso struggled in the first half of the year; it fell by June 15th to an 18-month low of 21.0 per USD. Things were back on track by mid-August, so much so that the peso was in fact 2018's best performing currency at the time of this report, being one of only two currencies to hold a year-to-date gain over the dollar. Rates in the high 18s per USD marked a double-digit rally since mid-June.

NAFTA continues to be the centerpiece of peso news flow. Recent strength followed rumours that Washington would strike a compromise over Mexican farm exports and, by doing so, would bring closer a trade deal.

Political uncertainty in Mexico eased after the election of Andrés Manuel López Obrador as Mexican president, supporting the peso.

A Standard Chartered analyst with a history of successful peso predictions said in July that the peso would strengthen to 18 per dollar by year-end. Among emerging markets, “Mexico looks like one of the better stories,” the analyst said.

The interactive chart below shows the USD to MXN exchange rate for the previous 3 months with rate alerts for days when the exchange rate moved up or down significantly or for 30 day highs and lows.

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USD-MXN 3 Month chart

USDMXN currency converter

Sending money to Mexico

When searching around for information on how to get a good exchange rate when sending money to Mexico you need to start with finding out the latest Mexican Peso foreign-transfer exchange 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 here).

Get a better deal for foreign transfers to Mexico

When sending money to Mexico 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 Mexican Peso 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 MXN amount will be transfered to the recipient account you specify in Mexico.

Use our Send to MXN 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 Mexican Peso deposited into the recipient bank account and less margins and fees kept by the banks!

Major MXN cross rates