United States Dollar to Thai Baht 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.
USD/THB 90-Day Trend: At 30.18 USD to THB is trading 0.6% below the average 30.36 with a range 30.16 to 30.69. ALERT: USD/THB has dropped to 30-DAY LOWS.
Exchange rates can vary significantly depending on the transaction type (transfer, cash or card), currency pair and amount. The below table shows an example of total costs charged by FX specialists and banks for USD/THB International Money Transfers. Costs are calculated against the current interbank mid-rate.
Example of the margins and possible savings when you order travel money online with a currency specialist rather than in-person from banks and currency kiosks.
When determining the best time to make a foreign exchange transaction, in this case the USD vs THB, you should pay attention to the recent market trends for both currencies.
United States Dollar (USD)
The US dollar has held its value this year despite a serious escalation in US-China trade tensions, mainly because the greenback is still considered a safer currency to own than most others.
At its October meeting the Federal Reserve cut the target range for the federal funds rate to 1.5-1.75 percent, the third rate cut so far this year, amid soft inflation indicators and general worries about the economy. However the central bank also signaled a pause in the easing cycle.
Taking the blame for the economic downturn is US President Donald Trump, whose trade war policies have set a ball rolling that could wipe $455bn from global output according to the IMF.
Recent years have been extremely kind to the baht and 2019 has been no exception. Approaching mid-year, the baht rose to a 6-year high against the US dollar (฿30.66) and to a 10-year high against the Australian dollar (฿21.35), as well as to long-term highs against a host of other major currencies.
The baht is being supported by Thailand’s large current-account surplus and has benefited from speculation that Thai stocks will soon be assigned a larger weighting in the MSCI Emerging Markets index, which would result in significant amounts of foreign capital entering Thailand.
The team at TradingEconomics.com is expecting slight baht weakness over the coming year, with June-2020 forecasts for USD/THB and AUD/THB of 32 and 22 respectively.
Why can't I just get the USD/THB 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 USD / THB 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.
