fedechat

On the app, you select Argentina, the amount, cash pick up, how you will pay... select local Pay in-Store, select State, it should cost you $8 per transfer (up to $1k), then enter your information (receiver), it must match your ID (First/Middle/Last Name), then the transfer will be confirmed and locked for 12 hours for that exchange rate, then you just go to any WU Location or places like Walmart. In Argentina, you don't have to select a branch, but due to the amount in pesos, is always recommended to go to the main branches.

Eastbay1K

First transaction should have a fee waiver.

TravelTheWorld66

Are you sure it's only 12 hours? I just did a transfer today which I won't pick up until Tuesday in BA. I'm not locked in at the rate that's displayed on my transfer even though the USD has already been deducted and transacted? That doesn't seem right.

I was trying to do it ahead of the election on Sunday just because I didn't know how the rate would be affected.

malagajohn

And in this crazy world , the Blue fell today by just over 8% to 905.

The reason? - your guess is as good as mine

What will happen tomorrow ...if only I knew

Meanwhile the CCL and the MEP held up fairly eell.

fedechat

I probably wasn't clear enough, the exchange rate you make on the app or website will be locked for 12hs (is like a reservation), so you have 12hs to confirm (pay) the transfer, even if their exchange rate goes below during that time... once the payment is made, you will receive that amount and it doesn't matter if you pick up today or in a week. Sometimes is good because todays rate is 935, but it may go back to 900 at a later time since the blue went down yesterday and probably will keep cooling down today.

fedechat

Is very common, every time the Blue goes up to the roof (I should say moon) in a short time, it does it for a couple of days.. then it will go down but CCL/MEP will usually take some days to react, to a point when WU will have better rate than the Blue..

Gaucho100K

Trading in the Blue dollar has been hugely impacted by the raids send out by AFIP (Argentine IRS) and the BCRA (Argentine Central Bank) which have been patrolling the financial district and other known areas where currency brokers conduct business.... many market makers have taken a de-facto banking holiday for the last week.... all this has impacted not only trading volume, but also meant hugely increased spreads. While sellers have to expect less pesos, if you are a buyer, it will not be easy to find someone willing to put a price on the Dollar. This is all a little difficult to comprehend for those that arent Argentine or have been living in Argentina for a very long time.

Lets hope that after Sunday's elections, things are a little more clear and normal trading resumes.... then again, this is Argentina so what will happen with the markets is anybody's guess.

malagajohn

Instead of clarity it got even murkier today.

A new rate was born - the dollar deep blue.

Given that the government has ring-fenced,with a police cordon, the cuevas that traded and made the market in the blue dollar , forcing a fall to 900 pesos over the last few days , very few trades had been made .

Some back street traders and arbolito operators were still operating in a very low profile sort of way and they were purchasing dollars for around 1100-1200

One of the leading web pages dolarito.com - This website is for sale! - dolarito Resources and Information. recognized it formally and is publishing and updating it

Will it be here next week?

No one knows. the markets will be unsteady for the next few days .

Tranquility ( relative) will come back but no one is sure when.

bundubasher

I was in Japan earlier this year. I went into a WU office(more adequate description would be shack) and exchanged USD there. Got an excellent rate on top of that. Is that possible in Buenos Aires?

malagajohn

The Blue is back and traded all day today after yesterdays first election round and it seems that its cousin the Deep Blue is dead.

The market closed with a spread of 1050 / 1100.

Still very unclear what will happen between now and the run off round on 19th November.

Gaucho100K

Trading in the Blue is indeed back, but in my view its still not back to pre election levels... I spoke to 3 different market makers today and most relevant players are still turning down business because AFIP and the BCRA Swat Teams are still very active on the street. Yes, some trades have resumed but its not business as usual.... depending on who you talk to, some say that things will probably not get back to "normal" until after the run-off..... then again, what is "normal"..... (sigh)

I expect that buy/sell spreads will remain quite generous for the coming future.... just another case of the traders finding an excuse to make a little more money... LOL

spainflyer

Does the clampdown mean that most of the cuevas' business is Argentines buying dollars, not tourists buying pesos? If the latter, I can't imagine why the Argentine government would not want more dollars flowing into the country?

Gaucho100K

Cuevas want to do business..... they dont care who is buying or selling - they just want to trade and make the spread. Most of the business is brought by the locals, but visitors do make up a nice amount of volume during peak season. The overall market size of the Blue is actually quiet small in terms of the size of the Economy... experts say that in normal market conditions less than 100 million USD is transacted in a normal trading day.... so this is peanuts relative to any proper capital market - even for an economy as small as the Argentine.

Gaucho100K

The government wants folks to use credit cards and "enjoy" the close to MEP rate.... blue trades are done cash on the non regulated and informal market, so this means that all this cash then gets mostly under reported to the tax man, so no VAT, and no income/city taxes are collected.... its the usual cat & mouse fight in lesser-developed countries.

TravelTheWorld66

Ok people I need your help. I booked a hotel down in El Chalten, and if I�m reading this message from them right, they are going to convert my USD amount on my reservation to ARS using the MEP rate?? Doesn�t that completely negate the discount? They�re saying I don�t get the official exchange rate??

Or am I reading this wrong?

Say for example my reservation through booking.com quoted me $100 total. My assumption would be that this would be converted to ARS at the official rate ($100 x 350) = roughly 35,000 pesos I am charged. Once processed at the MEP rate, I would pay roughly 35000/900 = $39 roughly instead of $100.

But this message has me thinking they�ll take the quoted $100 and multiply by 900 (MEP) and charge me 90,000 pesos. Are they allowed to do this?

Again, I hope I�m wrong since I have 7 rooms booked for my whole family at around $4000USD total.

Can someone please help me make sense of what they�re saying?