Your Complete Guide to Currency Codes

Currency converters are amazing tools. They help you understand and track the value of any currency in the world against other currencies. If you are an investor or FOREX trader, you can quickly look at historical data to analyze trends and find potential buy/sell opportunities. As a collector, it may help you discover new currencies you never knew existed. If you are a world traveler, using a currency converter can help determine how you’ll spend time in your next destination.

There's one trick to making currency calculators work for you. You need to know the currency codes for each country. Currency converters and FOREX tracking tools do not show the entire name of a currency, they just show the current exchange codes. In this article, we will give you a quick history of currency codes, along with a guide to the codes of the currencies in the world.

What are Currency Codes?

The International Organization for Standardization publishes a list of standard currency codes, often referred to as the ISO 4217 code list. In 1973, a committee within ISO decided it was necessary to develop codes to standardize monetary terms for the application of international trade and banking. By 1978, the committee had finalized their list for international publication and use.

The list of currency codes in the ISO 4217 standard is composed of a country’s two-character Internet country code (ISO 3166), plus a third character which denotes the currency unit. For example, the US Dollar code is USD. US is the country’s internet code and D represents the dollar.

Here’s another example, the code for the Iraqi Dinar is IQD. Understanding this sequence of the way the codes are constructed gives you a quick way to figure out most currencies even without a chart.  Here’s a tricky one: the Swiss franc, CHF. CH is the International country code for Switzerland, a F is for franc.

There are exceptions to this rule. Mnemonic considerations are important. The Euro fits this category. The currency code for the Euro is EUR, and it would be hard to imagine a substitute for this easy-to-remember code.

List of Currency Codes

Here’s a complete list of all currency codes used worldwide as defined in the ISO 4217 standard. If you want to quickly convert and exchange currencies for many of the codes shown below, try out our currency converter or sign up for an exchange rate alert. Make sure when you are using a currency calculator to remember the order of operations. The first currency listed is equal to 1 unit. So, for example, the number for the USD/IQD exchange rate means 1 US Dollar is equal to x Iraqi Dinars.

If you’re an investor, collector, or traveler, there’s no way to avoid currency codes and you’ll need resources to find and order foreign currency online. At US First Exchange, our goal is to be a continued source of education about the wide variety of currencies in the marketplace. We also give you the tools to make decisions about currencies. You can order foreign currency online and have your money shipped straight to your door in 24-48 hours. All shipments are fully insured for home delivery, and we pride ourselves on having the industry’s lowest spreads.

Try our currency converter or sign up for our exchange rate alerts to keep track of your favorite currencies.