Currency is a reroll budget, and the Exchange is the converter
Almost no currency in Path of Exile 2 is a direct power upgrade. What it does is let you take a mediocre item and try again — so an orb’s value depends entirely on the item you spend it on.
The Currency Exchange is what turns the orbs you have into the orbs you need. It is an automated order-matching system, not an auction house: you list what you have and what you want, and it fills in real time.
The one rule that trips everyone up: the Exchange only handles stackable items. Gear never goes through it. That is what the Trade site is for.
What the Exchange costs you (gold, per item bought)
| Item | Gold each | Item | Gold each | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portal / Wisdom | 1 | Exalt / Regal / Regret / Unmaking | 20 | |
| Transmute | 3 | Vaal / Binding / Instilling | 20 | |
| Augmentation | 5 | Armourer | 25 | |
| Jeweller / Chance / Alteration | 10 | Divine / Annulment / Ancient | 250 | |
| Chaos / Fusing / Alchemy / Scour | 15 | Mirror shard | 1,250 | |
| Mirror of Kalandra | 25,000 |
Two things follow from that table. Moving common currency is essentially free, which is why Chaos, Exalted and Divine Orbs are the default trading currencies. And chasing a Mirror through the Exchange costs 25,000 gold a piece, so it is not a casual transaction.
How the Exchange behaves
- Gold is soulbound. It cannot be traded between players; its only job here is paying the listing fee.
- Maximum 10 active orders at once, and the limit is shared across all your leagues.
- Cancelling does not refund gold. You get your currency back, but the fee is gone.
- You do not need the items in your inventory — the Exchange reads straight from your stash tabs.
- Rates come from the Market Ratio, which the game suggests. Hold Alt while hovering it to see available and competing offers before you commit.
How to unlock it
The Exchange is not available from the start — it is unlocked by progressing the campaign, then talking to the exchange NPC and picking the Currency Exchange dialogue. On the current wiki that NPC is Faustus, the Financier. Older guides name Finn (Act 1), Risu (Act 2), Alva (Act 3) or Ange (Act 4) — those were the vendors under earlier act structures, before the campaign was expanded. If a guide’s NPC name does not match what you see in game, trust the in-game vendor.
How to spend currency without wasting it
- Cheap rerolls are free to spend. Transmutation and Alteration on gear you are wearing right now.
- Alchemy is for rares you intend to keep, not for white items.
- Chance orbs are a gamble with a real chance of destroying the item.
- Never spend an orb whose effect you cannot name. The list of look-alike orbs is long enough that guessing costs real currency.
- Set a rule and keep it — for example, never more than two orbs on an item below rare.