The Federal Reserve's H.10 statistical release publishes daily noon buying rates for major currencies in New York, issued weekly on Mondays at about 4:15 p.m. for the prior business week, with a historical archive of bilateral rates by country; the series is a reference record for past dates, not a rate available for a transaction today.
What historical exchange rates federal reserve means
The Federal Reserve Board describes the H.10 release as containing daily rates of exchange of major currencies against the US dollar, published weekly, with historical bilateral exchange-rate data available by country going back further than the current weekly release covers. The IRS yearly-average table condenses a full tax year into one number for tax translation; the H.10 series instead preserves individual dated observations, which is what a historical percentage-change comparison needs.
| Release | H.10 Foreign Exchange Rates |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Federal Reserve Board |
| Publication cadence | weekly, Mondays about 4:15 p.m. |
| Illustrated earlier rate | 108.20 JPY per $1 |
| Illustrated later rate / change | 110.75 JPY per $1, about 2.36% |
Where do historical exchange rates come from, and how does the Fed's H.10 series work?: worked example
Suppose the H.10 archive lists a noon buying rate of 108.20 yen per dollar on one indexed date and 110.75 yen per dollar three months later. The percentage change is (110.75 minus 108.20) divided by 108.20, or about 2.36%. That figure describes the movement between those two published dates only; it says nothing about a rate available between those dates or after the later one.
How to calculate historical exchange rates federal reserve
Pull the two dated rates from the same H.10 series so both use the New York noon-buying convention. Percentage change = (later rate minus earlier rate) divided by earlier rate x 100. Keep the currency pair, the exact dates, and the release's own rounding together with the result.
Use the relevant inputs with these related Calculatort pages: currency conversion tool · travel money calculator · ECB reference-rate guide.
Common mistakes
Do not treat a weekly noon rate as a continuous intraday quote, average rates from two different published series (such as H.10 and a yearly-average tax table) as if they used the same methodology, or assume the archived rate was available to any specific retail transaction on that date.
Where this calculation stops
The Federal Reserve's release documents noon buying rates for cable transfers in New York; it does not include retail conversion fees, weekend or holiday rates, or same-day rates for currencies the release does not cover. Data gaps and methodology notes appear on the release itself.
How far back the H.10 historical archive actually goes
The Federal Reserve's H.10 historical archive is not limited to recent years. Its own historical pages break the data into date ranges going back through the 1990s and further, with a separate 'through 1989' section for the oldest years, at federalreserve.gov/releases/h10/hist/ - so a percentage-change calculation is not limited to the current weekly release window and can be built from decades-old bilateral rates for currencies the release has covered that long.
What the weekly publication schedule actually means for a specific date
The Federal Reserve states that bilateral exchange rate data are updated every Monday at 4:15 p.m. and that data are available up through Friday of the previous business week - so a rate dated the Wednesday of a given week is not published until the following Monday, and no rate exists for Saturdays, Sundays, or days the New York market did not trade. A calculation that needs 'this week's rate' before the following Monday is asking for a figure the H.10 release has not published yet.
The dispute this guide resolves: published historical rates can be revised
The Fed's own historical documentation records that revisions were applied in October 2004 to the exchange rate of the dollar against both the Hong Kong dollar and the Chinese yuan for several days between 1999 and 2003. An older printout or a cached copy of the H.10 archive for those currencies and dates can therefore disagree with the currently published figure; the release's own revision notes, not the original publication date, control which number is now official for a disputed historical rate.
Checking a percentage-change calculation both directions
The 2.36% change already calculated between 108.20 and 110.75 yen per dollar can be checked by reversing the direction: the percentage change from the later rate back to the earlier one is (108.20 minus 110.75) divided by 110.75, or about negative 2.30% - not the same magnitude as the forward 2.36% change, because percentage change is not symmetric around its base. Confirming both directions separately, rather than assuming the reverse move is simply the forward move with a flipped sign, catches this asymmetry before it is misread as a calculation error.
What the H.10 release covers, and what it leaves out
| Covered | Not covered |
|---|---|
| 23 major currencies against the US dollar | currencies outside that list |
| noon buying rates for cable transfers in New York | retail conversion fees or bank spreads |
| weekly, business-day observations | weekend, holiday, or intraday rates |
| a historical archive back through the 1980s | a live or forward-looking rate |
A 2019 methodology change that affects long-run comparisons
The Federal Reserve's own H.10 documentation notes that, effective June 24, 2019, Board staff changed the indexation method used for its Broad, AFE, and EME dollar indexes - a reminder that even an official series can revise its own construction method partway through its published history. A long-run comparison spanning that date should check whether it is comparing bilateral currency rates, which are not affected by the index-construction change, or one of the index series, which is.
How the Federal Reserve certifies the noon buying rate
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York certifies the H.10 figures as noon buying rates in New York for cable transfers payable in foreign currencies - a specific, documented rate-setting process, not an average of all trading activity that day. Two different data providers reporting 'the exchange rate' for the same historical date can legitimately disagree if one is quoting this certified noon rate and the other is quoting a daily close, a daily average, or a rate from a different market center.
Checking an H.10 lookup against the release's own revision list
Before treating an archived H.10 figure as final for a currency and date near a known revision, the release's own documentation - not a third-party mirror of the data - should be checked, since only the original source publishes which specific dates and currencies were affected by a later correction. The Hong Kong dollar and Chinese yuan revisions applied in October 2004, covering several dates between 1999 and 2003, are one documented example; other currencies and periods may carry their own revision notes that a cached or exported copy of the data would not reflect. A calculation built on an unrevised copy of the archive will reproduce the old figure exactly and consistently, which makes the error harder to notice than a random data-entry mistake would be.
Source and verification
The Federal Reserve Board publishes the H.10 foreign exchange rates release weekly and maintains historical bilateral exchange-rate data by country covering periods before the current weekly release. Read the named source. Verify the source date and the controlling statement, agreement, payroll record, or accounting record before relying on the illustrated result.