If you are travelling overseas from Australia, the best time to buy US dollars with Australian dollars in the last year was on December 28 2023. This is because the AUD/USD peaked at 0.6853 and has been range bound since.
The same applies to anyone transferring money overseas in US dollars.
On the other side of the coin, the worst time to buy US dollars was on October 14 2023 when the AUD/USD fell to 0.6290. This is lower than the current exchange rate of 0.6532.
Is it a good time to buy US dollars?
In general, if you are buying US dollars with Australian dollars, you want the AUD/USD exchange rate to be as high as possible. The higher the rate, the better it is for you. It means that you will receive more US dollars for the same amount of Australian dollars (AUD).
AUD to USD
Working out the best time to buy US dollars (USD)
To work out the best time to buy your US dollars before a trip, instead of watching the exchange rate each minute, you can set up a rate tracker.
With a rate tracker, you can get
- Daily emails that tell you what the rate is
- An alert email for a particular rate that you want. For instance, if the AUD/USD is at 0.7200 but you want to buy it when it gets to 0.7500 then you can set a rate alert for 0.7500 and we'll notify you if it gets there
Make sure to also tell us you date of travel. You won't receive any more emails after this date.
You can also set up more than one alert. Choose a number of currencies including Euro (EUR), Japanese Yen (JPY). British Pounds (GBP) and New Zealand Dollars (NZD).
It's important not to leave it to the last minute. Even though S Money is one of the fastest ways to buy currency in Australia, you can't buy it on the day you are travelling. To allow for time, make sure you have ordered and paid for your US dollars at least 4 days before you fly out.
