FX
USD/CNY
The dollar-yuan exchange rate, useful for China-linked risk appetite and Asia FX pressure.
At a glance
USD/CNY: latest value and prior change
As of 2026-07-17, USD/CNY is 6.78 CNY. It is 0.00 CNY higher than 6.77 CNY on 2026-07-16.
Within the default comparison window of 1,000 observations from 2022-07-18 to 2026-07-17, the latest value is at the tie-adjusted 5th percentile. Available history covers 2016-01-04 to 2026-07-17 with 2,632 observations.
- Observed on
- Default comparison window
- 2022-07-18–2026-07-17
- Observations · observed cadence
- 1,000 · Daily
- Data source
- FRED
A high or low percentile does not by itself make the indicator positive, negative, or a buy or sell signal.
Time-series chart
USD/CNY
2016-01-04–2026-07-17
Long-history series are stored as real provider observations. Index, FX, VIX, and ratio charts use historical backfill where providers expose it; Korean investor flow and margin-credit feeds expand as stable historical endpoints become available.
Interpretation guide
USD/CNY: a managed price with the PBoC's hand on it
USD/CNY quotes how many yuan buy one US dollar, so a rising pair means a weaker yuan. Crucially, this is not a free-floating rate: the People's Bank of China publishes a daily reference fixing and allows trading only within a limited band around it. Interpreting the pair is therefore as much about where the authorities want it to go as about where the market pushes it.
The daily fixing as a policy signal
The morning fixing is the official window into Beijing's intent. A fix stronger than market estimates reads as resistance to depreciation, while tolerance of a weaker fix suggests export support or an easing bias, so the gap between fixing and market rate is itself information.
- A rising pair means yuan weakness, often reflecting growth concerns or capital-outflow pressure in China.
- A persistent run of stronger-than-expected fixings marks a phase of active depreciation defense.
- At symbolic levels such as 7.0, whether the authorities allow a break matters more than the number itself.
What management does to the price action
Because day-to-day movement is suppressed, even small shifts in USD/CNY can carry the weight of much larger moves in freely floating currencies. The flip side is a step-like pattern in which accumulated pressure is released all at once when policy shifts.
- Low volatility does not mean low pressure, so also watch the gap versus the offshore yuan market.
- A sudden outsized move inside a calm trend calls for a policy-stance check before anything else.
- If the rate stays stable despite weak Chinese data, treat that as management at work, not resilience.
The won connection
China is Korea's largest trading partner, and the won often trades like a liquid proxy for the yuan among Asian currencies, so yuan weakness readily spills into won weakness and worries about Korean exports. Watching it with USD/KRW, KOSPI, and foreign net buying on TapeFlow shows whether China-driven pressure is spreading.
- When USD/CNY and USD/KRW rise together, treat it as a shared Asian pressure and prioritize external drivers.
- In extended yuan-weak phases, revisit demand assumptions for sectors with heavy China revenue exposure.
- A turn toward yuan stability alongside returning foreign net buying is a useful cue for recovering risk appetite in Korea.