People who have travelled to various countries in Europe and returned after their vacation or business trip would find they have dealt with a single currency which is used in most of the European nations. Traveling through the participating countries gives you the benefit of not having to worry about the rate of exchange; their official monetary unit is now the Euro, with code EUR. This is a currency used by 12 member countries of the EU known as the European Union and the other regions.

The countries that uses the Euros as their currency include Austria, Andorra, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, France, Finland, Greece, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Kosovo, Luxembourgh, Montenegro, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, San Marino, Slovenia, Spain, and the Vatican City. Twenty three other countries have pegged their own currencies to this European Union currency.

It was only in January 1, 2002 the Euros as the currency came into circulation, but the idea of having a closely united Europeans have, for ages, been around. When the EMS or European Monetary System was created around the year 1979, it locked rates of exchange among the participants from the various countries thus aiding the stabilization of the economy. Only then the EMU or Economic and Monetary Union were created in 1992 which worked hard for the establishment of a single currency!

After 7 years finally in the year 1999 on January 1st all the countries of the EU participating in creation of the single currency established the rates of exchange between the Euros and their own currencies. This resulted in the birth of the European currency. Today, the member states of the Euro area have only one currency, a common central bank, and a common interest rate. It is now administered and managed by the ECB (European Central Bank) and the central banks of the country members of Eurozone. This European currency is now the second most traded in the world next to the US dollar. It is also the second largest reserve currency in the world.

If you want to make money on the Euro, you can invest on it. You can place bets for when it gets devalued in relation to other currencies. In the market of foreign exchange, traders are allowed to buy this currency through the use of a different currency (for example, a US dollar). You can profit when the value increases. On a similar note, traders are also allowed to buy a different currency in euro, which brings in profit when its value declines.

The value of this currency is dependent upon how many pounds, dollars or other currencies it can be exchanged. It means that the value is dependent upon the rate of exchange. The traders on the foreign exchange market (Forex) are the ones who determine the exchange rates, after they have assessed the risks against the rewards for keeping the currency. There are several factors to which traders base their assessment, including sovereign debt levels, central bank interest rates, and how strong is the economy of the country.

Depending on the above factors, Forex traders determine whether the currency’s value will increase and they will make an up bid. Otherwise, they will bid down. The increase in value of the currency will happen when there is strong economic growth. The Euro rate changes on a day to day, or more rightly, on a moment to moment basis!

Click on the links to get more details on the rate of exchange http://currencyconvert.co/ of Euros http://currencyconvert.co/currency-profile/euro-eur with other currencies of the world.