USD => GBP => USD => EUR => USD => BDT => USD => BRL

May 11, 2017 12:02 PM

Turning $100 into $8.20 in 34 steps.
posted by Chrysostom (20 comments total)

I'm trying to make my way to a Hitchcock joke here, but there's just one to many steps.
posted by windowbr8r at 12:09 PM on May 11, 2017 [5 favorites]

There is some useful info buried in this but a retail transaction is so far from efficient it's kind of surprising they made that many transactions. There is probably money trading arbitrage that makes money but the online markets are so efficient and fast acting that if one were to find an opportunity it's probably a single transaction that lasts minutes if not seconds or well actually microseconds. Click fast ;-)
posted by sammyo at 12:11 PM on May 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

I'd like someone to start with a say a Bugatti and then see how many trade-ins it takes to get to a Nissan Versa.
posted by Kabanos at 12:17 PM on May 11, 2017 [6 favorites]

Well, I know you can trade a paper clip for a house.
posted by Chrysostom at 12:22 PM on May 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

Seems like it would be easier to stop converting back to US dollars every time. Oh but the article covers that.

I'm not sure exactly what the point of this piece is other than that retail currency trading is for suckers.
posted by GuyZero at 12:23 PM on May 11, 2017 [2 favorites]

At some point I adopted the principal that I would only exchange currency before a trip if I was going somewhere with a bigger economy than where I was coming from. My thinking was that tons of people in Cambodia (for example) would be willing to take my Canadian dollars so I'd be getting a pretty fair exchange, but very few places probably stock Cambodian riels here and they would take advantage of that rarity. It seems to fit what the article was showing with the different commission rates based on the likelihood of the exchange place being stuck with that currency.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 12:37 PM on May 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

Just a way to fill up a slow news week, I guess.
posted by windowbr8r at 12:55 PM on May 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

Well, I know you can trade a paper clip for a house.

Yeah, but the other way around takes way fewer steps. I've got a paperclip that I will gladly trade for any and all houses you may have burning a hole in your pocket.
posted by Itaxpica at 1:13 PM on May 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

That'd have to be a very small house. In which case probably not worth an entire paperclip.
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:24 PM on May 11, 2017

That'd have to be a very small house. In which case probably not worth an entire paperclip.

I bet one of those #bowwowchallenge people could come up with one of those.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 1:39 PM on May 11, 2017

Twenty dollars.

Same as in which town?
posted by srboisvert at 2:01 PM on May 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

If he had traded forex online, the leverage could blow him out in mere seconds.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 2:42 PM on May 11, 2017 [3 favorites]

Or you could send a teenager to the store with $100 for a gallon of milk and ask for the change back.
posted by HuronBob at 3:53 PM on May 11, 2017 [7 favorites]

I'd like someone to start with a say a Bugatti and then see how many trade-ins it takes to get to a Nissan Versa.

One?
posted by Splunge at 3:59 PM on May 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

That'd have to be a very small house. In which case probably not worth an entire paperclip.

Or just an enormous pocket.
posted by Itaxpica at 4:30 PM on May 11, 2017 [1 favorite]

I always wonder when I see those currency exchange places in airports or tourist areas: why do people use them? In my experience, paying directly for things with your credit card is a far better deal. And you don't end up with foreign change at the end of your trip.
posted by Triplanetary at 6:47 PM on May 11, 2017

Not advocating scammy money changers, but sometimes you're doing things or going places that don't take credit cards.
posted by dazed_one at 7:22 PM on May 11, 2017

Yeah, we always pay the big stuff (car, hotel) on a card, but it's still handy to have a little currency available in most countries. If there's a little left over, it's a souvenir for the kids.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:25 PM on May 11, 2017

wait, am i missing something? Going by the title i though they were talking about just straight exchange in a wonky way that made them lose money. But...they lost money because they had to pay a commission fee to complete the transaction. . . Uhm, yeah. When things cost money you have to pay for them and then you have less money.
posted by FirstMateKate at 6:00 AM on May 12, 2017

paying directly for things with your credit card is a far better deal. And you don't end up with foreign change at the end of your trip.

The last time I went to Cancun the ATMs had large deep receptacles under the money dispenser. It was fun to get a giant stack of pesos with a ridiculously high value note on top.

On the way home I spent my last peso for a beer at the airport.
posted by Splunge at 12:17 PM on May 12, 2017