Get available exchange rates of Ripple's built-in exchange

Question

I'm not hundred percent sure I got the whole principle of Ripple right. But as far as I could understand it is possible to deposit a currency into my ripple account/wallet via a gateway (e.g. USD via snapswap.com) and then send that currency to another wallet/ripple account and get it exchanged automatically.

For example I want to deposit 1 USD via snapswap.com into wallet1 and then send 1 USD worth of EUR to wallet2. This way, the owner of wallet2 receives my payment in EUR.

My first question would be:

1. Did I get this right, that it is possible to exchange a currency within the ripple network? Or is it that you have to convert your currency before you deposit into your wallet? In my example convert USD to EUR then deposit into wallet1 and send EUR to wallet2.
2. Is there a way I can see the exchange rates the ripple network can offer my for any currency pair? e.g USD / EUR.
3. I want to know if there is a way to get the exchange rate at which my USD will be converted to EUR, before I send the USD / EUR to wallet2. Or, do I have to send my money haphazardly?

Answer 1

Did I get this right, that it is possible to exchange a currency within the ripple network? Or is it that you have to convert your currency before you deposit into your wallet? In my example convert USD to EUR then deposit into wallet1 and send EUR to wallet2.

Yes, you got it right. Ripple contains order books for any pair of assets.

Is there a way I can see the exchange rates the ripple network can offer my for any currency pair? e.g USD / EUR.

The best way is to attempt the conversion in the client. If you try to view the exchange rates, you will see only a small subset of the available liquidity.

I want to know if there is a way to get the exchange rate at which my USD will be converted to EUR, before I send the USD / EUR to wallet2. Or, do I have to send my money haphazardly?

You can estimate the exchange rate by viewing order books in the client or on Ripple charts. But there are a number of reasons why the rate you actually get may not be the rate you see. For example, the best rate may be by exchanging USD for XRP and then buying the EUR with the XRP. The conversion function uses pathfinding.

Also, note that there's really no such thing as USD or EUR on the Ripple network. There are assets denominated in USD or EUR, and there may be more than one of each. The actual exchange rate you get may depend on the precise asset combination you are trying to exchange, not just which currencies it's denominated in.

You would expect an asset issued by a major exchange to be available for very close to face value and you might expect to get near face value for it. But there can be small variations. Providing assets widely valued near face value is essentially the purpose of a gateway.