How the dollar's official rate in Frankfurt passed from the Deutsche Mark to the euro

For half a century the dollar's official rate in Frankfurt was the Deutsche Mark's; since 1999 it has been the euro's. The The Deutsche Bundesbank, the independent central bank of Germany since 1957.Source: Deutsche Bundesbank, TimelineOpens in a new tab's series shows the rate held near a A currency's value defined against a yardstick, which may differ from its exchange rate in the market.Source: IATE, the terminology database of the European Union, currency parityOpens in a new tab until 1971, An exchange rate allowed to move with supply and demand in the foreign exchange market.Source: IATE, the terminology database of the European Union, floating exchange rateOpens in a new tab from 1973, and handed over to the euro close to where the Deutsche Mark left it. The The Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States.Source: Deutsche Bundesbank, 1973: The end of Bretton Woods When exchange rates learned to floatOpens in a new tab's rate shows how the The European Central Bank, which began work on 1 June 1998; its Governing Council decides the monetary policy of the euro area.Source: Deutsche Bundesbank, TimelineOpens in a new tab's differs from a rate taken later in the day.

Which rates

The Bundesbank's series of the dollar names its sources. From 1953 it is the Frankfurt exchange's own rate: From 10 August 1953 to 30 December 1998, official quotation on the Frankfurt exchangeSource: Deutsche Bundesbank, official quotation on the Frankfurt exchangeOpens in a new tabGo to the list of sources; before it, from September 19, 1949, the foreign-exchange conversion rates of the Bank deutscher LänderSource: Deutsche Bundesbank, official quotation on the Frankfurt exchangeOpens in a new tabGo to the list of sources, the Bundesbank's predecessor.Figures computed by FXtab from:Deutsche Bundesbank, official quotation on the Frankfurt exchangeOpens in a new tabPublications Office of the European Union (EUR-Lex), Council Regulation (EC) No 2866/98 of 31 December 1998 on the conversion rates between the euro and the currencies of the Member States adopting the euroOpens in a new tabEuropean Central Bank, Euro foreign exchange reference ratesOpens in a new tabBoard of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, G.5/H.10 - Foreign Exchange RatesOpens in a new tabGo to the list of sources After it: From January 1999, euro foreign exchange reference rates published by the European Central BankSource: Deutsche Bundesbank, official quotation on the Frankfurt exchangeOpens in a new tabGo to the list of sources; FXtab's article on the ECB's reference rates describes how they are set. The Federal Reserve's The Federal Reserve Board's weekly release of daily exchange rates of major currencies against the US dollar.Source: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Foreign Exchange Rates - H.10Opens in a new tab gives noon buying rates in New YorkSource: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Foreign Exchange Rates - H.10Opens in a new tabGo to the list of sources, the euro's among them.

What the history shows

The Bundesbank describes the The system of fixed exchange rates agreed at Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, in 1944, with the US dollar as its anchor currency.Source: Deutsche Bundesbank, 1973: The end of Bretton Woods When exchange rates learned to floatOpens in a new tab: The US dollar was the anchor currency, and the other currencies had to remain within narrow exchange rate bands against it.Source: Deutsche Bundesbank, 1973: The end of Bretton Woods When exchange rates learned to floatOpens in a new tabGo to the list of sources The Deutsche Mark's The Frankfurt exchange's official rate for a currency against the Deutsche Mark, quoted daily from 10 August 1953 to 30 December 1998; the Bundesbank's series gives its middle rate.Source: Deutsche Bundesbank, official quotation on the Frankfurt exchangeOpens in a new tab stayed close to each of its parities:Figures computed by FXtab from:Deutsche Bundesbank, official quotation on the Frankfurt exchangeOpens in a new tabPublications Office of the European Union (EUR-Lex), Council Regulation (EC) No 2866/98 of 31 December 1998 on the conversion rates between the euro and the currencies of the Member States adopting the euroOpens in a new tabEuropean Central Bank, Euro foreign exchange reference ratesOpens in a new tabBoard of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, G.5/H.10 - Foreign Exchange RatesOpens in a new tabGo to the list of sources

The official quotation of the dollar on the Frankfurt exchange under each parity, in Deutsche Mark per dollar
Parity	From	To	Lowest	Highest
4.20	August 10, 1953	March 3, 1961	4.1700	4.2161
4.00	March 6, 1961	September 24, 1969	3.9700	4.0266
3.66	October 27, 1969	May 4, 1971	3.6300	3.6900

Each change raised the Deutsche Mark. With effect from March 6, 1961, the exchange rate for the DM was raised by about 5 per cent as compared with the previous parity of DM 4.20 per U.S. dollarSource: Deutsche Bundesbank, Monthly Report - March 1961Opens in a new tabGo to the list of sources; the report goes on: The par rate for the DM in relation to the U.S. dollar thereby changed to DM 4 per dollarSource: Deutsche Bundesbank, Monthly Report - March 1961Opens in a new tabGo to the list of sources. A Bundesbank bulletin published on September 30, 1969 said that its announcement of the highest and lowest rates at which it dealt in dollars ceases to apply with immediate effectSource: Deutsche Bundesbank, Monthly Report - November 1969Opens in a new tabGo to the list of sources; from October 27, 1969, the new parity was DM 3.66 = 1 U.S. Dollar of the weight and fineness in effect on 1 July 1944Source: Deutsche Bundesbank, Monthly Report - November 1969Opens in a new tabGo to the list of sources. In May 1971 the Deutsche Mark floated: On 6 May 1971, Germany’s minister for economic affairs, Karl Schiller, therefore ordered that the D-mark should float temporarily.Source: Deutsche Bundesbank, 1973: The end of Bretton Woods When exchange rates learned to floatOpens in a new tabGo to the list of sources

The series also records the days the exchange was closed: 10 times from March 4, 1961 to January 21, 1974, the longest in March 1973: Vom 02. bis 16. März 1973 Devisenbörse geschlossen.Source: Deutsche Bundesbank, official quotation on the Frankfurt exchangeOpens in a new tabGo to the list of sources (Exchange closed from 2 to 16 March 1973.) On March 2, 1973, the government conceded: The Bundesbank was permitted to stop buying US dollars.Source: Deutsche Bundesbank, 1973: The end of Bretton Woods When exchange rates learned to floatOpens in a new tabGo to the list of sources From the reopening on March 19, 1973, the dollar floated: its highest quotation was 3.4690 Deutsche Mark, on February 26, 1985, and its lowest 1.3620, on April 19, 1995.Figures computed by FXtab from:Deutsche Bundesbank, official quotation on the Frankfurt exchangeOpens in a new tabPublications Office of the European Union (EUR-Lex), Council Regulation (EC) No 2866/98 of 31 December 1998 on the conversion rates between the euro and the currencies of the Member States adopting the euroOpens in a new tabEuropean Central Bank, Euro foreign exchange reference ratesOpens in a new tabBoard of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, G.5/H.10 - Foreign Exchange RatesOpens in a new tabGo to the list of sources

The last official quotation, on December 30, 1998, was 1.6730 Deutsche Mark per dollar. Council Regulation (EC) No 2866/98 fixed the euro at 1,95583 German marksSource: Publications Office of the European Union (EUR-Lex), Council Regulation (EC) No 2866/98 of 31 December 1998 on the conversion rates between the euro and the currencies of the Member States adopting the euroOpens in a new tabGo to the list of sources, so that quotation equals 1.1691 dollars per euro; the ECB's first The euro's rates the ECB publishes every working day for information only, based on a concertation between central banks around 14:10 CET.Source: European Central Bank, Euro foreign exchange reference ratesOpens in a new tab, on January 4, 1999, was 1.1789. Since then the euro's lowest has been 0.8252 dollars, on October 26, 2000, and its highest 1.5990, on July 15, 2008. It stood below one dollar on 706 of the ECB's dates from January 27, 2000 to December 5, 2002, and on 47 from August 23, 2022 to November 10, 2022.Figures computed by FXtab from:Deutsche Bundesbank, official quotation on the Frankfurt exchangeOpens in a new tabPublications Office of the European Union (EUR-Lex), Council Regulation (EC) No 2866/98 of 31 December 1998 on the conversion rates between the euro and the currencies of the Member States adopting the euroOpens in a new tabEuropean Central Bank, Euro foreign exchange reference ratesOpens in a new tabBoard of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, G.5/H.10 - Foreign Exchange RatesOpens in a new tabGo to the list of sources

What it means for your money

The ECB determines its reference rates daily around 14:10 CETSource: European Central Bank, Framework for the euro foreign exchange reference ratesOpens in a new tabGo to the list of sources, hours before noon in New York, when the Federal Reserve's rate is taken. On the 6,859 dates both have from January 4, 1999, the median gap between the two is 0.180%: 0.137% on the 2,875 days the Federal Reserve's rate changed less than 0.25% from its value before, and 0.461% on the 600 days it changed more than 1%. On those days, the ECB's rate lay on the side of the Federal Reserve's value before, below it on a day it rose and above it on a day it fell, on 87.2% of them. The largest gap, 2.73%, came on March 10, 2016.Figures computed by FXtab from:Deutsche Bundesbank, official quotation on the Frankfurt exchangeOpens in a new tabPublications Office of the European Union (EUR-Lex), Council Regulation (EC) No 2866/98 of 31 December 1998 on the conversion rates between the euro and the currencies of the Member States adopting the euroOpens in a new tabEuropean Central Bank, Euro foreign exchange reference ratesOpens in a new tabBoard of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, G.5/H.10 - Foreign Exchange RatesOpens in a new tabGo to the list of sources

FXtab shows the ECB's rate for the euro and the dollar. A rate quoted later in the day can differ from it by the day's move as well as by a margin; FXtab's Check a quote computes the total cost of a quote you have against the ECB's rate.

Sources

Figures as of September 25, 2026, computed by FXtab from these sources (Source: Deutsche Bundesbank; ECB statistics); the translation from German is FXtab's.