How exchange-rate APIs handle weekends

A weekend FX response can be useful, but only when it says when each rate was observed and whether it is stale.

Narwhal mascot beside flowing foreign-exchange data lines

Market session is context

The response marks the market as open, weekend, or interbank closed. That state applies to the response as a whole.

Freshness belongs to each rate

Currencies can have different effective times. Each rate therefore keeps its own timestamp and stale flag.

Your application decides

Use the market session, timestamp, and stale state together. Do not replace a missing rate or remove its time context.

Sources and references

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