Euro ends October lower against the dollar, pound, yen and yuan for a second month running, a first since 2015
The euro fell 1.6% against the dollar in October 2026 to $1.1172 and lost ground to the pound, yen and yuan for a second straight month, the first such run since 2015, ECB reference rates show.
The story in focus
The euro ended October 2026 at 1.1172 US dollars in the European Central Bank's reference rate of Friday 30 October, down 1.61% from 1.1355 at the end of September, according to ECB data compiled in the DatelineHQ euro exchange rate tracker. The single currency also fell against the British pound (-2.44%), the Japanese yen (-1.45%) and the Chinese yuan (-2.37%). It was the second consecutive month in which the euro lost ground against all four currencies, something that last happened in October and November 2015. The October average of 1.1202 dollars was the lowest monthly average since March 2025.
- The ECB reference rate for the euro was 1.1172 US dollars on 30 October 2026, down 1.61% from 1.1355 on 30 September and 3.66% lower than at the end of August (1.1596).
- The euro also fell in October against the pound (-2.44% to 0.8338), the yen (-1.45% to 175.68) and the yuan (-2.37% to 7.4326). September was also a month of losses against all four, the first back-to-back run of this kind since October and November 2015.
- The October average of 1.1202 dollars was the lowest monthly average since March 2025. The month's low, 1.1130 on 29 October, was the weakest fix since 13 May 2025; 11 of the month's 22 fixes were below 1.12, a level not seen earlier in 2026.
- Against the pound, the 2.44% fall was the largest monthly decline since October 2022, and the closing rate of 0.8338 pounds was the lowest since 28 March 2025. Against the yuan, the October low of 7.4144 on 29 October was the weakest since 27 March 2023.
How the euro closed October
The European Central Bank set the euro reference rate at 1.1172 US dollars on Friday, 30 October 2026, the last working day of the month. That compares with 1.1355 dollars on 30 September, a fall of 1.61% over October. The euro had already lost 2.08% in September, so it is now 3.66% below its end-August level of 1.1596 dollars.
The euro is 3.31% weaker than a year earlier, when the reference rate was 1.1554 dollars on 31 October 2025, and 4.92% below the end-2025 rate of 1.1750 dollars. It is 6.7% below this year's high of 1.1974 dollars, set on 28 January 2026.
Lower against all four major currencies
October's decline was not only against the dollar. The euro ended the month at 0.8338 British pounds, down 2.44% from 0.85463 at the end of September; at 175.68 Japanese yen, down 1.45% from 178.27; and at 7.4326 Chinese yuan, down 2.37% from 7.613. Over September and October together the euro lost 2.65% against the pound, 5.15% against the yen and 4.61% against the yuan.
In the ECB daily series since January 2015, the euro has ended a month lower against all four of these currencies 21 times. Four of those months fall in 2026 (March, June, September and October), matching the four recorded in 2015. September and October 2026 are the first consecutive months on that list since October and November 2015.
The October range and average
The ECB published 22 euro reference rates in October 2026. The highest dollar rate of the month was the first, 1.1298 on 1 October, and the lowest was 1.1130 on 29 October, the weakest fix since 13 May 2025, when the rate was 1.1112. The euro recovered 0.38% on the last day of the month, to 1.1172. The largest single-day fall in October was 0.82%, on 7 October.
The average reference rate in October was 1.1202 dollars, 2.7% below the September average of 1.1513 and 3.7% below the October 2025 average of 1.1630. It was the lowest monthly average since March 2025, when the euro averaged 1.0807 dollars. Eleven of October's 22 fixes were below 1.12 dollars; none of the fixes earlier in 2026 had been.
The pound and the yuan
The 2.44% fall against the pound was the euro's largest monthly decline against sterling since October 2022, when it fell 2.47%. The reference rate dropped to 0.8338 pounds on 30 October, the month's low and the weakest level since 28 March 2025 (0.83358). The October average of 0.8428 pounds was the lowest monthly average since March 2025, and the euro's 2026 low before October had been 0.84873 pounds on 16 July.
Against the Chinese yuan, the euro has fallen 9.65% since the end of 2025, from 8.2262 to 7.4326, and 9.60% over the past year. Its October low of 7.4144 yuan on 29 October was the weakest since 27 March 2023, and the October average of 7.4883 was also the lowest since March 2023. Against the yen, the euro averaged 176.91 in October, down 1.7% from September, and is 4.57% lower than at the end of 2025 and 6.4% below its 2026 high of 187.72 on 17 April.
How this October compares
The euro has fallen against the dollar in eight of the 12 Octobers since 2015. This year's 1.61% drop is the fifth-largest of those October declines, after 2024 (-2.80%), 2018 (-2.23%), 2016 (-1.93%) and 2015 (-1.66%), and is close to the 1.59% fall of October 2025.
Despite the recent slide, the euro's average for 2026 so far, 1.1568 dollars, is still above the 2025 average of 1.1300, because the currency rose 13.1% over the course of 2025 and stayed high in the first half of this year.
About the data
The euro foreign exchange reference rates are published by the European Central Bank on each TARGET working day, normally around 16:00 Central European Time, and are based on a regular concertation procedure between central banks. They are published for information purposes only. Rates are quoted as units of foreign currency per euro, so a lower number means a weaker euro.
Figures in this article come from the DatelineHQ euro exchange rate tracker, which is updated each weekday from ECB data. All 3,029 daily records since January 2015 for the dollar, pound, yen and yuan (12,116 values) matched the ECB Data Portal series when checked on 31 October 2026. Monthly changes compare the last reference rate of each month; monthly averages are simple averages of the daily reference rates. The tracker offers the full daily series as a CSV download, and the DatelineHQ euro-dollar statistics page lists the key figures with dates.
How much did the euro fall in October 2026?
The euro fell 1.61% against the US dollar in October 2026, from 1.1355 on 30 September to 1.1172 on 30 October, according to ECB reference rates. It also fell against the pound (-2.44%), the yen (-1.45%) and the yuan (-2.37%). The October average was 1.1202 dollars, the lowest monthly average since March 2025.
Sources & further reading
- Euro foreign exchange reference rates (European Central Bank) ↗ecb.europa.eu
- ECB Data Portal: US dollar/Euro reference rate, series EXR.D.USD.EUR.SP00.A ↗data.ecb.europa.eu
- DatelineHQ euro exchange rate tracker: ECB reference rates since 2015 ↗datelinehq.com
- DatelineHQ euro-dollar exchange rate statistics: key figures with dates ↗datelinehq.com
- Daily euro reference rates in USD, GBP, JPY and CNY, spreadsheet file ↗datelinehq.com
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