Maybe I miscalculated. Does iTrade and BMO fix an exchange rate for the whole day or do they transact using a real time quote at the moment of the exchange? Also, how does one get a real time quote on an exchange rate? Can you punch in a symbol like for a stock?
Miscalculated?
Nobody is going to ding you for 50 cents on the dollar, although I'm sure everybody would like to.
Even the Beer Store only dings you for around 10% for US$.
5 cents would be close to a typical bank spread between buy and sell on small amounts but if this is the spread for one or the other relative to the forex rate, than it is quite large.
At this rate, if the US/CAD forex rate was 1:1, you should be able to buy US$ for around $1.025 and sell US$ for around $0.975 for a total spread between buy and sell of 5 cents.
In this example of par, if you are buying US$ for $1.05 or selling them for $.095, those are not good rates.
iTRADE and BMO quotes are based on real-time forex rates.
I am talking about cash conversions, not foreign stock purchases made with different currencies, like buying a US stock funded from my CAD cash account. Those rates are not done in real-time.
For iTRADE I call them and for BMO I ask the teller.
I remember one time I lost around $5 on the exchange because the teller was wasting time trying to sell me some mutual funds before she processed my transaction.
It could have just as easily gone the other way but it didn't.
