Spread

The usually quoted rate is a "spot price". For a real transaction there are two prices: the lower price (bid) is the price at which a market maker or a brokerage in general is willing to buy the first currency of a pair; the higher price (ask) is the price at which a brokerage is willing to sell the first currency of a pair. See bid/ask spread for more. For example if the quotation of EUR/USD is 1.3607/1.3609, then the spread is USD 0.0002 (or 2 pips). In general, the more popular the pair is, the smaller the differences or spreads. Different brokerage firms have different spreads. Of course a bureau de change may have totally ridiculous spreads but this is usually for small amounts