MacroSnaps8 October 2026
No. 89The US dollar is on one side of nearly 90% of all currency trades, the swaps of one country's money for another's.
Currency trades
88%
Central bank savings
58%
Trade priced in dollars
~50%
Payments between countries
47%
How much of the world's international money business uses the US dollar, 2025. Each currency trade involves two currencies, so the dollar's 88% is out of a total of 200%. Sources: Bank for International Settlements, IMF.
Why this is happening
- Most currencies are swapped through the dollar rather than directly. To turn Thai baht into Brazilian reais, a bank usually sells baht for dollars, then dollars for reais.
- Oil, metals and most goods traded between countries are priced and paid for in dollars, so firms everywhere need to hold them.
- Central banks keep their country's savings mostly in US government bonds, because no other market is big and safe enough to take that much money.
The take
Economists call this America's "exorbitant privilege". Despite years of talk about countries moving away from the dollar, no other currency comes close. That gives Washington real power: it can cut a hostile country off from the payment systems the rest of the world uses.
Source: BIS Triennial, IMF COFER (2025)