The spot rate is the price of a contract for immediate delivery. The name refers to the time frame of delivery, "on the spot," but it's not unusual for the actual exchange to occur over the course of a number of days. A spot rate is in contrast to a forward rate, which is for contracts negotiated for delivery in the extended future. A contract is any legally-enforceable promise or set of promises made by one party to another. ...

Typically, it is used to describe the price of foreign currency denominated financial instruments in terms of another currency, making it synonomous with the currency's immediate exchange rate. Various currencies A currency is a unit of exchange, facilitating the transfer of goods and services. ... Financial instruments package financial capital in readily tradeable forms - they do not exist outside the context of the financial markets. ... In finance, the exchange rate between two currencies specifies how much one currency is worth in terms of the other. ...