Who Open Exchange Rates is
Open Exchange Rates is a currency data service, run by Open Exchange Rates (UK) Ltd, that has served exchange rates through a JSON API since 2011. It covers a long list of world and digital currencies, live and historical, with end-of-day rates for every day back to 1 January 1999.
Its rates are collected from several providers and blended, and businesses of every size use them in online stores, accounting, analytics and apps. That is why it is one of the reference rate sources our FX module connects to.
What it does in your platform
FX
Gives the module a reference rate for each currency you offer, from a source that is not one of your counterparties, so live quotes from your liquidity providers have something independent to be compared with.
How the connection works
The connector calls Open Exchange Rates' JSON API over HTTPS with your App ID, sent in a request header and kept in your platform's secrets. The API does not push updates, so the module asks for fresh rates on a schedule.
A scheduled request
The module asks for the latest rates against your base currency, for the currencies you offer.
Rates with a timestamp
Each response carries the time the rates were published, so the module knows how fresh they are.
Only changes travel
With ETags, a request for rates that have not changed gets a short answer, and the module keeps its last copy.
Quotes are compared
Live quotes from your liquidity providers are compared with these rates before your margin is added and the customer sees the result.
If a source stalls
If one of your sources goes quiet, the module keeps quoting from the others, and your team sees the gap in the admin backoffice.
Next to other rate sources
Open Exchange Rates sits in the module's reference rates group with LSEG and the European Central Bank. The ECB publishes once a working day for a shorter list of currencies, while Open Exchange Rates covers more currencies and updates through the day, so the two do different jobs.
Reference rates are not liquidity: trades still go to your liquidity providers or your own counterparties. Moving to another rate source later does not change your apps.
When Open Exchange Rates fits best
A strong fit when
- You show or convert currencies that your liquidity providers do not all quote.
- You want an independent reference for live quotes, updated through the day.
- Your team wants a simple JSON API with a long history behind it.
Also worth a look
- The European Central Bank's daily euro reference rates, next to Open Exchange Rates or instead of it for euro benchmarks.
- LSEG, from the same group, when you need institutional FX data under a data licence.
How we get you live
The contract
We help you get your Open Exchange Rates account and contract in place, with the currencies and update frequency your quotes need.
The schedule
We set with you how often the module asks for fresh rates, the base currency, and how old a rate may be before it stops counting.
The keys
The App ID goes into your platform's secrets and travels in a request header, never in your apps.
A full test run
The module runs against live Open Exchange Rates data in a test environment, comparisons and stalls included, before a customer sees a quote.
