How much cash can the average ATM hold?

If you wish to start an ATM business, one of the things you might want to know about is the maximum amount of money they hold.

In this article, we’ll be providing all of that information and more. You only need to read on to learn as much as you can.

Here is what it costs to buy an ATM.

How Much Does an ATM Hold?

ATMs are a crucial part of our financial infrastructure. These electronic banking outlets help complete a wide range of transactions.

With an ATM, you get credit card advances, make a deposit, buy postage stamps, and, more importantly, get or withdraw money.

For ATMs to always serve the purpose they were designed, they must be loaded or stocked with cash. ATM operators know exactly how much money each machine can hold.

This knowledge allows them to load up enough money while monitoring when it needs to be reloaded.

How Much Money is in an ATM?

Regarding the amount of money an ATM can hold, you’ll need to look at the type or bill denomination loaded.

The different U.S dollar bill denominations include $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100. Based on these denominations, the holding capacity of an ATM will be determined by the amount loaded.

Multiple factors influence how much money ATMs hold. Each machine is designed to hold four cassettes loaded with cash in terms of the maximum amount each can load.

Now, the cash-holding capacity of each cassette is around 2,000 crisp notes.

Here, the stress is on the word CRISP as that much number (2,000) of old notes won’t fit into the cassettes.

Having identified the cash volume that can be loaded into an ATM, what remains is to consider the denomination loaded.

For more prominent ATMs, the cash-holding capacity is higher as a cassette can hold around 6,000 bills.

When multiplied by the denomination, you’ll get the actual value the ATM can hold. For example, an ATM cassette loaded to total capacity with $10 bills will translate to $60,000.

Based on our earlier discussion, we’ve identified the different dollar bill denominations available.

If all four ATM cassettes are loaded to capacity with the same amount, a more straightforward calculation is quickly figured out. However, that isn’t always the case as there are mixed denominations.

Plus, ATMs aren’t always loaded to total capacity for several reasons.

If multiple cash denominations are loaded onto an ATM, the total must be calculated by multiplying the cash volume by denomination.

Most banks’ ATM cassettes are loaded with $20 and $50 bills. These translate to around $120,000 to $240,000 in holding value.

In practical terms, there is no definite answer to how much an ATM will hold as banks may have policies that allow for specific amounts loaded into their machines.

i. Doing the Math 

To give you an idea of how much money an ATM will hold, it’s necessary to consider each dollar denomination available.

Here, we’ll assume that an ATM has been loaded with a specific amount. So, how much money will be realized for $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100?

Let’s find out.

  • Calculating for Each Dollar Denomination

Depending on the holding capacity of the ATM, one designed to hold 2,000 crisp notes per cassette will have around $2,000 in cash.

More prominent ATMs (those with 6,000 capacity cassettes), when loaded with $1 to the maximum cash amount, will translate to about $6,000.

Moving on to $2 bills, an ATM with cassettes designed to hold 2,000 crisp notes will have around $4,000 per cassette. ATMs with 6,000 cassette capacity will translate to about $12,000 in cash.

Moving on to $5 bills, cassettes designed to hold 2,000 notes will have around $10,000 in cash. For cassettes with carrying capacities of 6,000 notes, the monetary amount will be about $30,000.

We’ll follow the examples above to find out the money an ATM will hold if owners load it with only $10 bills. Cassettes designed for 2,000 crisp notes will have a monetary value of $20,000.

On the other hand, cassettes for more significant bill amounts like 6,000 will hold a monetary value of $60,000.

Proceeding to the $50 denomination, a 2,000 cash volume cassette will hold $100,000, while a 6,000 cash volume ATM cassette will hold around $300,000.

For the most part, cash denominations contained in ATMs are mixed. This makes the cash value quite varied.

Factors Affecting the Monetary Value of ATMs

As discussed above, it’s clear that the bill denomination used plays a crucial role in determining the cash value held in the ATM.

Other key factors include ATM location and the time of year. Let’s provide further details on ATM location and time of year.

  • ATM Location

The location of ATMs determines how much money is loaded. While locations are identified as high-traffic areas, others don’t see as much traffic.

It’s logical to expect more demand for cash around areas with high traffic. These machines need to be loaded to the total capacity to keep up with demand.

Examples of high-traffic ATM locations include retail sites, college campuses, bank locations, etc. These machines are attended to more frequently than those around low-traffic areas due to the higher demand for money.

  • Time of Year

Time of year also plays a crucial role in determining home much money an ATM holds.

Specific periods such as holidays are known to attract a lot of expenses. To meet up with cash demands, ATMs are loaded more often. There are also periods when schools aren’t in session.

During such times, cash demands drop rapidly, which may lead to the removal of some cash until school resumes.

Now you have an idea of how much money an ATM holds.

For the most part, there’s no definite answer as the monetary value in an ATM will be determined by multiple factors such as those mentioned.