USD to CAD — compare your quote with the mid-market rate
US Dollar → Canadian Dollar
USD → CAD is one of the world's most liquid pairs. A retail quote more than 1% from the mid is mostly provider margin.
About the USD/CAD pair
This page shows today’s wholesale USD/CAD mid-market rate beside the rate a bank, broker, or kiosk has quoted you. The result is the gap between the two, as a percentage and an amount, in four tiers: under 0.3%, 0.3–1%, 1–3% and over 3% of the amount. The mid-market rate is the rate banks trade at, not a rate you can transact at directly — providers add their margin on top, and that margin is the gap RateCheck shows.
Who sends money on this route
USD to CAD is a cross-border corridor between neighbours. US companies pay Canadian staff, suppliers and contractors; Americans with cottages in Ontario or ski property in British Columbia fund upkeep; and Canadians working in the US send savings home.
Cross-border shopping, snowbird retirees and US parents with children at Canadian universities add regular smaller transfers.
What moves USD/CAD
The Federal Reserve and the Bank of Canada set the policy rates. The two economies are closely tied, so the gap between the rates is usually small, and shifts in it drive the pair.
US jobs and inflation move the dollar side. On the Canadian side, the monthly employment report, consumer price inflation and each Bank of Canada decision matter, as does the oil price, since crude is Canada's largest export.
USD/CAD is a liquid pair with calmer swings than most. Trade policy between the two countries can move it sharply when headlines land.
How to read a quote
USD/CAD is quoted as Canadian dollars per US dollar, a figure above one. A customer rate below the mid-market rate delivers fewer Canadian dollars per US dollar, and the gap is the provider's margin.
Banks commonly build a few per cent into the rate on international transfers, while specialist providers are often under one per cent. Cross-border banking arrangements that link US and Canadian accounts still apply a rate margin, and that margin shows up as the gap to mid.