From source to financial context
ACTA DIURNA reporting framework
The context
Coverage includes fiat currencies, the IMF’s Special Drawing Right and four precious-metal codes. Active fiat currencies are ranked by the U.S. dollar value of one unit. The eligible universe is provider-specific and can change with currency adoption, redenomination and data availability; it is not a permanent census of all local or parallel-market currencies.
The methodology retains territory codes, excludes unpriced and legacy units from the current ranking, and displays XDR, XAU, XAG, XPT and XPD separately. Currency code changes, redenominations and monetary-union accessions require explicit identity maintenance. They cannot be interpreted as ordinary investment gains or losses.
What we track
Definitions and interpretation below describe our coverage. They are not live readings or mechanical buy/sell instructions.
USD value of one unit
The reciprocal of a quote expressed as currency units per U.S. dollar, calculated before display rounding.
How to read it: A higher nominal unit value may simply reflect denomination design. This ranking is not a measure of safety, economic strength, living standards or expected return.
Source & methodology ↗Quote identity and timestamp
Currency code, base and quote currency, source observation time, retrieval time and rate type.
How to read it: Official, indicative, dealer and parallel-market rates may serve different users. A freshly downloaded page can still contain an old observation or a non-executable administrative rate.
Source & methodology ↗Comparable change
Current rate divided by a matched prior rate minus one, using the same quotation direction and source.
How to read it: Report both dates. A seven-day provider return and a saved edition-to-edition comparison can cover different intervals, especially across holidays or delayed publications.
Source & methodology ↗Ranking and ties
Full-precision ordering within the eligible fiat universe, with exact ties sharing a competition rank.
How to read it: Display rounding should not create false ties. Changes in eligible coverage can move a rank without a meaningful currency-market development.
Source & methodology ↗SDR valuation
The IMF’s dated U.S. dollar value for one SDR, treated as a separate reserve-asset reference.
How to read it: An SDR is not a freely circulating national currency. Its valuation should not be inserted into a fiat league table or treated as a retail exchange quotation.
Source & methodology ↗Rates, regimes and exposure
Policy instruments, exchange-rate arrangements and a business or investor’s currency of assets and liabilities.
How to read it: The financial consequence depends on exposure. A stronger currency can reduce imported costs while translating foreign earnings into fewer home-currency units.
Source & methodology ↗How we cover it
The source directory includes primary central-bank reference rates and IMF valuation, alongside a clearly identified indicative aggregate provider. A uniform ranking needs one comparable snapshot; independent official checks remain separate evidence.
Metals require their own bid or offer basis and USD-per-troy-ounce units. They are not exchange rates merely because ISO supplies metal codes. Cross-topic currency panels should reuse the same dated snapshot.
What the numbers can miss
Provider access does not imply permission for unrestricted commercial redistribution. Delayed or reference rates must be described according to their actual license and update frequency.
Currency return and total investor return differ once interest, fees, hedging and asset-price changes are included. A peg does not eliminate convertibility or counterparty risk.
Sources & editorial context
The guide preserves the actual USD-per-unit methodology in the original currency chat. Current prices and coverage are shown only in separately timestamped market data.
- SIX — ISO 4217 currency codes
- BIS — Data portal
- IMF — SDR valuation
- BIS — Central bank policy rates
- ECB — Official interest rates
- ECB — Euro foreign exchange reference rates
Coverage framework informed by the publisher’s Foreign Exchange/Global Currency reference discussion. Discussions guide the reporting agenda; factual claims and metrics are checked against the identified source institutions.