Australian Dollar to Bitcoin exchange rates aren't all the same.
The total cost you are charged by your bank or foreign exchange provider consists of a margin from the interbank mid-rate plus fees.
These margins and fees vary significantly for International Money Transfers and Travel Money transactions as shown below.
When determining the best time to make a foreign exchange transaction, in this case the AUD vs BTC, you should pay attention to the recent market trends for both currencies.
Australian Dollar (AUD)
In late June and early July, the Australian dollar recovered from multi-month lows against a number of important currencies; however, these recoveries were minor relative to losses over the past 18 months. Against the US dollar, at a rate of 70¢ (July-2), the Aussie was 14 percent lower than its best rate from 2018.
Investors have sold AUD in recent months as they’ve bet on aggressive interest-rate cuts by the Reserve Bank of Australia. These bets paid off: the RBA cut its cash rate in both June and July to a record low of 1 percent.
Lower borrowing costs are necessary, investors believe, in light of persistently soft domestic data and the fallout from a US-China trade standoff that shows no sign of nearing an end.
AUD will continue to track changes in interest-rate expectations. Economists expect at least one further cut this year and many expect two by early 2020. After July's cut, the RBA hinted it would leave rates unchanged for several months.
Interestingly, AUD has decoupled from commodity prices in 2019. The price of iron ore (Australia’s largest export) nears multi-year highs while AUD languishes.
Further RBA interest rate cuts this year are now a certainty, and that doesn’t bode well for currency valuations. Westpac has predicted three cuts this year.
Sentiment towards cryptocurrencies has really picked up in 2019 and bitcoin is thriving. Rates just shy of $11,000 on June-22 (the day of this report) marked a spectacular recovery from rates closer to $3,000 earlier this year. Between mid-February and June-21, bitcoin gained value in 15 weeks from 18.
Cryptocurrency experts suggested in June that the imminent arrival of Facebook’s own coin, Libra, added legitimacy to the crypto space, thereby assisting widespread acceptance and adoption of cryptos as payment vehicles and boosting market sentiment.
Rather than disappear, as some prominent financial experts had predicted, Libra’s arrival confirmed that “[bitcoin] will remain an ever-important asset that hundreds of millions of people will hold,” one analyst said, before adding: “You can bet bitcoin is going to break 15k!”
Why can't I just get the AUD/BTC market rate I see online or in the media?
The mid-rate is the rate you will see quoted online or the news. It is actually just the half-way point (hence mid-rate) between
the last rate at which the AUD / BTC was traded (bought or sold) in the international markets.
All foreign exchange providers charge a fee for providing their service and this fee is usually contained within the exchange rate margin (or difference to the mid-rate).
Some providers such as Transferwise will quote you the mid-rate (or close to) and charge a separate percentage fee.
Getting a good market rate is mainly about timing however the transaction margin
you end up being charged can be considerably reduced by around a few percent (of total amount being exchanged) for
travel money and possibly over 5% to 6% when sending money.
The exact potential savings depends on the currencies being exchanged and the amount you are transferring and if you are willing to shop around.
