What counts as a comparable family
A family shares route, date, funding and payout. It enters the study only when exact matched provider sets exist at two or more send amounts.
For each amount we identified every provider tied for the highest recipient amount, then checked whether that winner set changed.
Why amount can change the result
Fixed fees shrink in proportional importance as amount rises, while exchange-rate margins grow with the converted value. Fee tiers and promotion caps create additional breakpoints.
The 17.5% result confirms the mechanism occurs in recorded data. It does not say which amount will switch on a future route.
How to use this finding
Run the comparison at the amount you intend to send. For a recurring plan, test the realistic range rather than a standard demonstration amount.
Do not split a large payment solely to chase a historical winner; limits, verification and repeated fees also matter.
How this result was produced
Eligible rows used high or medium confidence and an API or HTML source. We retained one provider row per exact key using confidence, source quality and recipient amount, then required at least two providers.
Winner sets were compared only within route-date-pay-in-pay-out families with two or more matched amounts.
These are quote observations, not completed transfers. Results apply only to the named routes, dates, amounts and methods; they do not predict a future quote or measure delivery reliability.
