Exchange Rates

Tired of launching the macOS Calculator app and stepping through menu paths or launching the fullscreen OS X Dashboard just for doing a simple currency conversion? Maybe even without having to move your fingers from the keyboard? Here's the solution:

Exchange Rates 4 is a small currency calculator residing in the macOS status bar – always available and always up to date. Nothing more, nothing less.
Everything can be done using keyboard shortcuts, so you can easily convert an amount between two currencies without interrupting your current workflow by using the mouse or launching another window-based application.

And just in case you would like to know what your paper currency is worth in sound money: Exchange Rates now also offers precious metals for conversions - each in grams and troy ounces.

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World Currencies

In addition to all important world currencies Exchange Rates also offers the current rates of IMF Special Drawing Rights, the U.S. Dollar Index and either the SPDR Gold Shares ETF (GLD, version 3.3.0 and later) or the VanEck GDX ETF (version 4.0 and later) as well.

Euro-Predecessors

All euro predecessor currencies with their fixed exchange rates are available as well, for example the Austrian Shilling or German Mark.

Cryptocurrencies

Exchange Rates also shows the prices for various built-in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ether, Monero or Ripple. You can choose from a variety of supported currency exchanges, other currencies and exchanges can be added easily in the app preferences (custom cryptocurrencies are only available in version 3.0 and newer, see the FAQ section for more informations about that).

Precious Metals

You can also check what your paper currency is worth in sound money: Exchange Rates shows the prices of the 4 precious metals gold, silver, platinum and palladium in either grams or troy ounces. Exchange Rates can alternatively show the official LBMA fixing prices of gold and silver from Quandl instead. This requires an additional API key, which is freely available at nasdaq.com/nasdaq-data-link.

Notifications

You can also create notification rules for any currency pair or precious metal to be notified whenever an exchange rate ex- and/or deceeds a specific threshold.

Today Widget

Exchange Rates 3 also includes a today widget for the macOS notification center showing a list of your favorite currency pairs. On macOS Catalina and earlier, two more widgets are available as well: a tiled overview of you favorite currency pairs and a simple yet powerful currency converter. Please keep in mind that due to the profound changes in macOS Big Sur and several new functional limitations the latter two are unfortunately not available any more on macOS Versions 11 and later.

System Services

Exchange Rates is also available from within other macOS applications - like for example Safari - by offering two macOS system services to convert any amount to either local currency or to all your favourites without the need of copying and pasting it first. Keyboard shortcuts for these system services can be configured in the macOS system preference pane "Keyboards".

Track Your Favorites

Favorites help you to keep track of all your favourite exchange rates by allowing you to add any currency pair you wish to follow - be it of common world currencies, a cryptocurrencies or a precious metals. You can also choose a separate quotation (direct or indirect) for each favorite. This favorite exchange rates selection is then used for the menu bar panel and the today widgets inside the notification center, and they offer additionally informations about the up-to-dateness of the exchange rate data.

Always Up-to-date

Everything is updated automatically in the background, so the most recent rates are immediately available in the macOS status bar and the notification center (on OS X Yosemite and newer).

Simple & Efficient

Exchange Rates offers lots of keyboard shortcuts, so you can control basically all features of the app without the need of a mouse and thus interrupting your current workflow for a rather basic task like converting an amount to a different currency.

Focused

The user interface is focused on the essentials to keep it simple and its usage as efficient as possible. It helps you keeping track of all those currencies which are important to you - always available and always up-to-date.

No unnecessary data collection

No user tracking or any additional data acquisition of any kind (e.g. via Google Analytics, Flurry etc.) is done by this app. The only network comunication done is for updating the exchange rates from the respective servers, these requests may be tracked by the respective server owner. The update frequency can be changed in the application's preferences, more informations about the loaded feeds can be found on the FAQ page.

Main Features:

✓	All important foreign exchange rates & currencies in your menu bar. Always available, always up-to-date
✓	No more annoying fiddling with the OS X Calculator just to do a simple currency conversion
✓	Everything can be done using keyboard shortcuts to avoid interrupting your current workflow
✓	Provides two system services for even more convenient currency conversions. Keyboard shortcuts for them can be set in the OS X System Preferences
✓	You can also check what your paper money is worth in gold, silver, platinum and palladium
✓	Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Litecoin or Ether are also available
✓	The fixed exchange rates for all Euro predecessor currencies are available as well
✓	Add favourites (accessible with keyboard shortcuts) for frequently used conversions
✓	Keeps a history of all most recently used currencies (can be deactivated)
✓	The statusbar panel supports several different list types for using direct/indirect quotations and the used destination currency
✓	Data Minimization: no unnecessary data collection (e.g. user tracking)

Advanced Features:

✓	Today Widget for the macOS Notification Center
✓	Notification rules pair to notify you when the exchange rate of any any currency de- and/or exceeds a predefined threshold
✓	Other cryptocurrencies can be added manually
✓	You can manually add feeds for other Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ether exchanges (only JSON feeds via http or https and without any authentification)
✓	Offers two system services for convenient currency conversions
✓	URI-Scheme for switching currencies, performing conversions or just opening the panel
✓	Command line interface for currency conversions
✓	Optionally shows the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) on the main panel and the today widget
✓	Shows direct and/or indirect quotations (price or quantity notations)

Version 4.0

Please note: Exchange Rates is a research tool, it cannot trade foreign exchanges on your behalf. It is however a fantastic tool to keep an eye on the market, so all exchange rates and precious metal prices are provided for informational purposes only, and do not constitute financial advice of any kind. Although every attempt is made to ensure their quality, currentness, validity and availability, no guarantees or warranties of any kind can be given - so please use them at your own risk. The data is sourced from various providers with public-facing APIs, so copyright may apply. The resale of any data is prohibited.

If you should miss a feature or have any ideas how to make Exchange Rates even better, don't hesitate to drop me an email. Thank you!

Terminal Integration

To use the Exchange Rates command line interface for currency conversions from within your shell scripts more conveniently, you can install a command line tool for shell support and use it like this: exchangerates convert from:USD to:EUR value:10 Usage informations are available using this command: exchangerates help Due to restrictions of the Apple sandbox security concept and Apple's policies for Apps distributed via the Mac App Store, you have download and run this separate package to install the Terminal support script for Exchange Rates to the folder /usr/local/bin, which will require administrator privileges:
	Terminal support installer for Exchange Rates 3.0 and later
	Version: Published: File size: SHA Checksum:	4.0 Nov. 29, 2023 app. 11 kB 4508acb638f506273efb1c87f59e9b5a343da040
	Terminal support installer for Exchange Rates 2.x (Legacy Version)
	Version: Published: File size: SHA Checksum:	1.0 August 19, 2018 app. 15 kB 19f3dc3d442bc2ca80032f2d8f4b12b63c9af8e0
Please note: The package for the legacy version 2.x won't work on macOS Big Sur (Version 11) and later, at least not without further ado, since it requires a PHP interpreter which is not part of macOS any longer since Version 11.0.

Updating Exchange Rates 2

The previous version - Exchange Rates 2 - has been superceded by version 3 and thus has been pulled from the App Store. But since Apps that aren't for sale any longer can't be found on the App Store in order to be updated, you have to follow a slightly diffeent approach.
So if you haven't had the chance to update it to its latest version, just follow these steps in order to get the last update of Exchange Rates 2:

Uninstall the app by deleting its App Bundle from the Applications folder
Reinstall the app on the Mac App Store via the list of purchases from your account overview

If the app is still listed with an "Open" button in there, you may have to reboot your mac or at least logout and re-login in order to make the App Store app update its internal cache.

Errors happen and may not always be found in time, so if you should find one or if you are missing an important feature, feel free to send me an email.

ExchangeRates Appcast

System Requirements

Exchange Rates Version 3.2.0:

OS X Version 10.11.0 or later

System requirements for OS X 10.11.0

Exchange Rates 3 is the first version fully supporting macOS 10.15 (Catalina). Previous versions may run, but there may be incompatibilities.

Exchange Rates 2.9.6 is the last version of Exchange Rates 2, and hereby the last one running on OS X version 10.10 (Yosemite). All future versions starting with Exchange Rates 3 – which is available as a paid update – will require at least OS X version 10.11 (El Capitan) or newer.

Exchange Rates 2.9.5 is the last version running on Mac OS X Version 10.10 (Yosemite). Exchange Rates 2.9.2 is the last version running on Mac OS X Versions 10.7 (Mountain Lion) through 10.9 (Mavericks). Exchange Rates 2.9.3 and newer requires OS X Yosemite (version 10.10.0) or newer.

Version History

Version 3.2.0 Current

Published on February 06, 2020

you can now select a favorite to be shown in the menu bar
if the current calculator selection constitutes a favorite, it is now marked accordingly in the favorite collection/list
the app menu is now also accessible via a secondary click onto the status bar item
a few other minor bugfixes and improvements

Version 3.1.2

Published on January 24, 2020

fixes several issues regarding Quandl as alternative data source for gold and/or silver
fixes window placement issues in common multi-screen setups and when using Sidecar
a few other minor bugfixes and under-the-hood-improvements

Version 3.1.1

Published on January 08, 2020

fixes a nasty layout issue causing the status bar panel to be sometimes oddly misplaced

Version 3.1.0

Published on December 16, 2019

adds a list mode for the status bar panel's favorites collection
adds a third today widget showing a favorites list of instead of a tiled collection
fixes the app's own dark mode on macOS High Sierra and earlier
fixes the status bar panel's position on an iPad connected via Sidecar (on macOS Catalania and newer)
now also shows change values for closed markets
a few other bugfixes and improvements

Version 3.0.2

Published on October 23, 2019

fixes another possible crash on OS X version 10.11 (El Capitan)
a few minor localization fixes

Version 3.0.1

Published on October 22, 2019

fixes a crash when running on OS X version 10.11 (El Capitan)
switching appearances should now work again on macOS version 10.13 (High Sierra) and earlier

Version 3.0

Published on October 19, 2019

Exchange Rates now finally allows you to add any missing cryptocurrency, which then will make use of the already existing possibility to add new cryptocurrency exchanges
the menu bar panel has been rewritten fom scratch and opens much faster, especially when using a large number of favorites
favorites now always consist of two currencies of your choice. Hence the old list types aren't necessary any more and have been removed.
there are now two separate and completely rewritten today widgets: a currency calculator and a collection of your favorite exchange rates
a gold future (GC=F) is now loaded instead of the old defunct spot price feed, which hasn't seen any updates for quite some time now
contains various bugfixes for macOS version 10.15
lots of other, minor bugfixes and small improvements

Version 2.9.6

Published on October 31, 2018

fixes two crashes
basic compatibility with macOS version 10.15 (Catalina)
a few other minor bugfixes
This version (2.9.6) is the last update of Exchange Rates 2, and hereby the last one running on OS X version 10.10 (Yosemite). All future versions starting with Exchange Rates 3 – which is available as a paid update – will require at least OS X version 10.11 (El Capitan) or newer.
This version will run on macOS version 10.15 (Catalina), but not with all the bells and whistles. Please check out Exchange Rates 3 for full compatibility with macOS Catalina, a completely rewritten user interface and many other new features.

Version 2.9.5

Published on March 07, 2018

various minor bugfixes and under-the-hood improvements

Version 2.9.4

Published on September 22, 2018

compatibility with the next macOS update and its new dark mode
various other minor bugfixes and under-the-hood improvements

Version 2.9.3

Published on August 20, 2018

adds the temporarily missing belarusian ruble (BYN) again
supports more currency symbols
crypto currency exchange definitions have been updated and old defunct ones removed
more compatibility fixes for the next, big macOS update
various other minor bugfixes and under-the-hood improvements
Exchange Rates now requires macOS Version 10.10 (Yosemite) or newer

Version 2.9.2

Published on August 13, 2018

compatibility fixes for the next, big macOS update
various other minor bugfixes and under-the-hood improvements

Version 2.9.1

Published on August 09, 2018

allows you to import old preferences from version 2.8.1 and older (only if recently used)
a few bugfixes

Version 2.9.0

Published on August 09, 2018

now uses a different data source for all world currencies, precious metals and the US Dollar Index, replacing the old defunct one
can now also use quandl as an alternative data source for the most important world currencies
adds a command line API for simple currency conversions
various bugfixes and under-the-hood improvements

Version 2.8.1

Published on August 05, 2017

adds Monero as new crypto currency with Kraken and Poloniex as available exchanges
various bugfixes and improvements

Version 2.8.0

Published on August 05, 2017

adds Bitcoin Cash as new crypto currency with Bitfinex, Coinfloor and Kraken as available exchanges
adds Ethereum Classic as new crypto currency with Kraken and Poloniex as available exchanges
adds Ripple as new crypto currency with Kraken and Poloniex as available exchanges
adds Coinfloor as exchange for Bitcoin
adds OKCoin as exchange for Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ether
adds BTCChina as exchange for Litecoin
now uses Kraken as a default exchange for all crypto currencies
various other bugfixes and improvements

Version 2.7.0

Published on July 12, 2017

adds a contextual menu to the menu bar panel's result text field
reorganized the preferences window
updated french localization
various other bugfixes and improvements

Version 2.6.3

Published on May 13, 2017

fixes a typo in the french localization
fixes a minor UI issue of the status bar item
fixes a rare layout issue of the status bar panel
other minor bugfixes and improvements

Version 2.6.2

Published on February 21, 2017

the argentine peso (ARS), the Thai Baht (THB) and the Burmese kyat should now be available again

Version 2.6.1

Published on February 18, 2017

PLN, CLP and LKR should now be available again
LKR, PKR, MUR, NPR and SCR now use correct currency symbols

Version 2.6

Published on October 12, 2016

added Ether as crypto currency with all the features available for Bitcoin and Litecoin (notifications, custom providers etc.)
added new alternate feeds for gold and silver (replacing the discontinued xmlcharts.com feed)
the today widget now supports the new bright appearance of macOS Sierra
now supports multi-monitor-configuration with multiple menu bars
various bugfixes

Version 2.5.7

Published on September 26, 2016

additional data source for HKD added (HKD was curiously missing only when used from Hong Kong)

Version 2.5.6

Published on September 17, 2016

compatibility bugfixes for the next major macOS update
the xmlcharts.com backup feed for precious metals is not available any more and thus has been removed from the app

Version 2.5.5

Published on June 30, 2016

fixes an issue caused by a change in the precious metals data feed

Version 2.5.4

Published on April 05, 2016

the status bar panel's transparency can now be disabled
the status bar item can now use greyscale icons
fixes a bug in the notifications editor when selecting currencies via the drop down menu

Version 2.5.3

Published on September 26, 2015

• adds a button to the main panel to browse the selected currency pair on finance.yahoo.com and quandl.com
• replaces the two arrow buttons in list views with a popup button offering more actions
• bugfix: the app preference to hide the exchange rate in the status item was not always persistent
• bugfix: fixed a delay when dragging entries in the preferences window's favourite list
• bugfix: sometimes the app prevented the system from shutting down or rebooting

Version 2.5.2

Published on August 26, 2015

the statusbar item can now use the value entered on the statusbar panel
fixes a UI glitch in the status bar item
fixes a few minor flaws in the status bar panel's favourites list
adds a checkbox to the preferences to completely disable notifications

Version 2.5.1

Published on August 11, 2015

the xmlcharts.com feed was not refreshed immediately after enabling it
increased the time to 1 hour until the xmlcharts data is for precious metal prices
you can now disable the xmlcharts.com data for gold only (debug preferences)
the status bar item should now be easier to read on OS X 10.10
localisation updates

Version 2.5

Published on July 31, 2015

Exchange Rates can now send notifications for price thresholds
This update adds a user interface to the preferences window for adding custom BTC- and LTC-exchanges
removed Prelude from the BTC and LTC exchanges lists (apparently out of service)
adds BTCGreece as BTC and Cryptsy as BTC and LTC exchange
switched the URLs of all built-in data sources to https
preparations for the next major OS X update
localisation updates
xmlcharts data is now ignored when the feed contains "0"-values
various other bugfixes and optimisations

Version 2.4.5

Published on May 04, 2015

various bugfixes

Version 2.4.4

Published on April 17, 2015

switches back to the apparently more reliable XML currency feed

Version 2.4.3

Published on March 30, 2015

fixes an error in the BitFinex feed definition

Version 2.4.2

Published on March 19, 2015

adds BitFinex as BTC and LTC exchange
bugfixes

Version 2.4.1

Published on March 09, 2015

improved accessibility
various bugfixes

Version 2.4

Published on February 23, 2015

fixes a very ugly bug when trying to load the Yahoo currency feed
the main panel's favourite list now allows searching for currencies and selecting/adding/removing favourites
the today widget now supports all list types of the menubar app
adds an additional data source for precious metals (updated hourly)
the main panel now allows pasting values with currency codes to automatically switch the source currency
Exchange Rates now uses the official US Dollar Index code "DXY"
various bugfixes and other improvements

Version 2.3

Published on December 30, 2014

you can now do currency conversions directly within the today widget
the today widget's new input field can also be hidden via the application preferences
in the today widget all favourites can now be selected as target currencies
the today widget can not show both direct and indirect quotations at the same time
you can now reach the application preferences directly from within the today widget
introduces a new flag icon set
adds precisions of 0 and 1
the preferences window has been reordered and cleaned up
fixes a possible crash in the today widget
BTC and LTC feeds are now loaded only if they are in use
various internal improvements regarding network connections and data caching
USDX on the main panel can now show the real pricing date (not only the loading date)
The favourites table in the preferences window now shows the real pricing date of all favourite currencies (that's what we get from the data providers)
fixes an issue of the manual data refresh
updated the french localisation
many other bugfixes and small improvements

Version 2.2.2

Published on December 09, 2014

the main app does not need to be launched any more for using the Today Widget
the widget now also shows the US-Dollar index (if enabled)
adds a refresh rate of 2 minutes
the feeds are now updated immediately after waking up from sleep mode
fixes an issue of the USDX indicator when showing negative changes
fixes an issue that caused the data not being refreshed under some circumstances
fixes a rounding issue of the status item
fixes an issue in the today widget when there is only one favourite currency set
fixes two issues when using high contrast or reduced transparency on OS X Yosemite
adds an error log for identifying feed loading problems
updates the BTC feed definitions for Bitcurex and BTCTurk
... and various other optimizations and bugfixes

Version 2.2.1

Published on October 24, 2014

fixes a crash on OS X versions 10.7.x and 10.8.x
fixes a minor UI issue when adding new favourites

Version 2.2

Published on October 16, 2014

the user interface has been optimized for the new OS X Yosemite look
adds a Today Extension for OS X Yosemite showing all your favourite currencies
favourite currencies can now be sorted manually
removed the limitation of 10 favourite currencies (but still only the first 10 have a keyboard shortcut)
added 3 new favourite list types for the current local currency
the USD index can now also be shown on the main panel (optionally, disabled by default)
on OS X 10.10 the flat style has been replaced by an "auto" style (since all styles are „flat“ now) which chooses the theme automatically according to the current system appearance
changed the default theme to "auto" on OS X Yosemite (this only applies to new installations)
added an option to only show an application icon in the status bar item
updated the french translation
added a few keyboard shortcuts and improved general keyboard control
numerous other bugfixes and optimizations

Version 2.1

Published on July 01, 2014

Exchange Rates now offers an URI-Scheme for currency conversions
Added 3 more favourite list types for direct quotations
Now has a max. possible accuracy of 8 decimal places
The main panel is now a little wider when using higher accuracy
Moved preferences into a separate window for better usability
Moved the help document to a separate window
Fixed a few bugs, some of them for OS X version 10.10 (mostly UI related)

Version 2.0

Published on May 22, 2014

added various bitcoin and litecoin exchanges
you can now add your own bitcoin and litecoin exchanges
added two system services to make currency conversions even more convenient
you can now search for currencies and precious metals instead of browsing a long list
the main panel's favourites list can now show indirect quotations for the current home and/or foreign currency or alternatively both direct and indirect quotations of either the selected home or foreign currency
... and can optionally use the entered value for calculating the exchange rates
added the system default keyboard shortcut for showing the preferences popup (CMD+,)
prepared the lithuanian Litas to be moved to the euro predecessor currencies on January 1, 2015
added a preference to always use the current system region for localized currency names
application preferences cleaned up
fixed various bugs and minor layout issues
updated translations
implemented a few small UI optimizations

Version 1.4

Published on April 10, 2014

Adds a list of all favourite base exchange rates
Adds a new UI style "flat design"
Status item can now additionally show the respective direct quotation
Added italian and spanish localizations
Fixed a few layout bugs
A few other, minor user interface changes

Version 1.3.1

Published on March 18, 2014

adds Coinbase to the available bitcoin market places
now allows you to enter fractions like "1/25" (e.g. for precious metals)

Version 1.3

Published on March 11, 2014

adds "exchange rates" for precious metals (gold, silver, platinum and palladium, each in grams and troy ounces)
adds bitcoin market places BTC China and Blockchain.info
removes Mt.Gox and uses BTCe as default bitcoin market place (instead of Mt.Gox)
adds french localisation
various bugfixes and improvements

Version 1.2.2

Published on January 01, 2014

bugfixes for OS X version 10.7.x (Lion)

Version 1.2.1

Published on December 16, 2013

Added two Bitcoin market places (BTCe, BitStamp)
fixed an issue which sometimes prevented the bitcoin feed from being updated properly

Version 1.2

Published on December 11, 2013

added Bitcoin as a currency (with prices from MtGox)
added Litecoin as a currency (with prices from BTCe)
the result text field now adjusts the font size as far as possible
fixed an issue of the status item when showing indirect quotations (has sometimes not been updated reliably)

Version 1.1

Published on November 27, 2013

added an option for the status bar item to use a custom precision set in the application's preferences

Although ExchangeRates is being developed with the utmost care and intensively tested before being published, I cannot guarantee the suitability of this program for any purpose not described on this website. No warranty can be assumed for the performance and flawlessness of the software for all usage conditions and cases and for the results produced when utilized by the user. ExchangeRates is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind.

Please keep in mind that the release of new versions on the App Store takes some time to to pass the review process, so bugfixes will not be immediately available. The current average review time of the App Store (as a rough guide value) is available on appreviewtimes.com.

From where do you load the exchange rates?

The exchange rates of all currencies (except the euro predecessor currencies) and the prices of 4 precious metals (gold, silver, platinum, and palladium) are being fetched from Yahoo servers. They are updated with a delay (not realtime), please browse the feed for a complete list of all currencies and their dates.

The exchange rates of the major world currencies (version 2.9.0 and newer) as well as the four precious metal prices can alternatively be fetched from Quandl, which requires you to create a free API key on their website nasdaq.com/nasdaq-data-link and enter it in the app preferences on the pane called "Data Sources". The feeds loaded from Quandl will then contain the official LBMA fixing prices (London Bullion Market Association) which are set twice a day for gold and once a day for silver. The exchange rates from this data source are provided by various central banks, mostly the ECB (European Central Bank) and are updated on a daily basis. Since the central banks only publish exchange rates for the most important world currencies, only about 40 currencies (as of August 2018) can be provided via Quandl.
These exchange rates will only be used if they are newer than the respective ones of the primary data source (Yahoo).

The euro predecessor currencies however are maintained manually, so changes (if a country should join or leave the euro zone) will require an update of the application.

Cryptocurrency prices (Bitcoin, Litecoin etc.) are loaded from the servers of the respective bitcoin/litecoin exchange. You can open the respective feed in your default web browser by clicking on the small arrow button next to the exchange selector.

All feeds use the same update frequency set in the application's preferences popover.

Please keep in mind that the exchange rates and prices shown by this app are only for informational purposes and are no financial advice of any kind. The availability, quality and accuracy of this data cannot be guaranteed, so please use it at your own risk.

Which euro predecessor currencies are available?

To make it short: all of them. At this moment (November 2013) these currencies are available:

Austrial Schilling (ATS)
Belgian Franc (BEF)
Cypriot Pound (CYP)
Dutch Guilder (NLG)
Estonian Kroon (EEK)
Finnish Markka (FM)
French Franc (FRF)
German Mark (DEM)
Greek Drachma (GRD)
Irish Pound (IEP)
Italian Lira (ITL)
Latvian Lats (LVL)
Lithuanian Litas (LTL, as of 2015)
Luxembourgian Fran (LUF)
Maltese Lira (MTL)
Portuguese Escudo (PTE)
Slivak Koruna (SKK)
Slovenian Tolar (SIT)
Spanish Peseta (ESP)

It may take a while if a country should join or leave the euro zone, since these currencies are currently maintained manually and thus require an update of the application.

My preferred cryptocurrency exchange is missing, can I add it myself?

With Exchange Rates (version 2.5 and newer) you can easily add your own, custom cryptocurrency exchanges for loading their prices and converting them into all available foreign currencies. The application preferences window contains a separate tab for adding and editing these feed definitions with separate sub tabs for each coin type:

Please note the following limitations when adding a new feed:

Only JSON feeds are supported
At the moment the feeds have to be publicly available without any authentication
It is recommended to use https (if offered by the respective server)

Which keyboard shortcuts are available?

General control:

Choose source currency:	⌘S
Choose destination currency:	⌘D
Switch currencies:	⌘⇧X
Copy result to clipboard:	⌘⇧C
Show all favourite base exchange rates:	⌘⇧A
Open application menu:	⌘M
Open preferences / help popover:	⌘E ⌘,
Switch tabs in the "Preferences" window	⌘1 ... ⌘5
Open the help window	⌘?
Quit the App (only when visible):	⌘Q

Favourite currencies / Main panel:

Choose source currency:	⌘1 … ⌘0
Choose destination currency:	⌘⎇1 … ⌘⎇0
Search for currencies (on the main panel's favourite list)	⌘F
Add source currency to favourites:	⌘⇧F
Add destination currency to favourites:	⌘⎇⇧F

Favourite currencies / Preferences:

Move the selected entry upwards	⌘ ↑
Move the selected entry downwards	⌘ ↓
remove the selected entry	fn ⌫ (Delete)
open a menu to add new favourites	⌘ +

You can also assign a global keyboard shortcut to show the Exchange Rates window. Global keyboard shortcuts for system services can be configured in the OS X System Preferences (Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts, section "Services").

Can I assign a keyboard shortcut to the system services?

Yes, you can assign keyboard shortcuts to all OS X system services in the System Preferences Pane "Keyboard". You'll find the services offered by Exchange Rates on the tab "Keyboard Shortcuts", section "Services":

How do I use the URI scheme?

Exchange Rates also offers its own URI scheme called "exchangerates://" to trigger currency conversions or just change the current application selection. These URIs have to be created like this:

exchangerates://?=&=

Examples:

exchangerates://convert?src=EUR&dst=USD&val=1.49exchangerates://convert?src=XAU.g&dst=USD&val=1.49exchangerates://set?src=XAU.g&dst=USD&val=1.49exchangerates://open

More informations are available in the application's help documents.

What exactly are direct and indirect quotations?

Direct and indirect quotations in the foreign exchange market describe the price relationship of a domestic and a foreign currency, for example USD to EUR.

Indirect quotation:

The indirect quotation expresses the amount of foreign currency required to buy exactly one unit of the domestic currency and is also known as a "quantity quotation". The indirect quotation of USD-EUR would mean:

1 $USD amounts to n €

Direct quotation:

The direct quotation expresses the exact opposite: the amount of domestic currency required to buy one unit of a foreign currency and is also know as a "price quotation". The direct quotation of USD-EUR would mean:

n $USD amount to 1 €

I cannot find the Exchange Rates Login Item in the System Preferences!

Due to the App sandboxing model used in the Mac App Store, sandboxed apps have to register Login Items using a system framework called "ServiceManagement". Such a login item is not visible in the System Preferences Panel "Users & Groups", so you can only remove it using the respective application which created it in the first place.
So this is an intentional (but very unfortunate) behaviour of OS X.
Alternatively, you can manually add Exchange Rates to the Login Items in the System Preferences Panel "Users & Groups" instead of using the respective checkbox in the Exchange Rates settings.

Why is it that the status item sometimes disappears?

On screens with lower resolutions (for example on a MacBook Air) it can happen that applications like Safari, which has many menus, cause a few status bar items to suddenly disappear.

This is automatically done by OS X because it always shows all menus and leaves the available space to the status item area on the right side of the bar. But this space may not be sufficient to show all active status items, so the system starts to hide them until there is enough space to show the others; it usually begins with those on the very left.

Unfortunately there is no way to influence this behaviour, nor can a developer choose where a status item should be shown. It is all decided and done by OS X.

The only possible way to create more space is to deactivate unused status items. Some items - like for example the user menu - also offer reduced appearances which require less space and thus leave more of it to the others.

But Exchange Rates is always accessible with its own global keyboard shortcut (which first has to be set of course), even though it may not be visible at the moment.

The Exchange Rates system services do not appear on my system.

It sometimes happens that the system services are not detected properly by macOS and thus may be missing from your services menu. In this case you can run the following Terminal command to rebuild this menu:

/System/Library/CoreServices/pbs -flush

Errors happen and bugs may not always be found in time, so if you found one in one of my programs, if you are missing an important feature or just have another question, feel free to drop me an email.