A fixed-price quote in US dollars is never truly fixed
A quote priced in US dollars looks stable, but the costs behind it are paid in ringgit. When the exchange rate moves, the margin on that quote moves with it.
A fixed price is supposed to remove uncertainty. You agree a number in US dollars, the studio agrees to deliver, and neither side has to think about money again until the invoice is due. That is the theory. In practice, the number sits still while the ground underneath it moves.
Most software studios in Kuala Lumpur, including this one, pay salaries, rent and local suppliers in ringgit. When you quote in US dollars, you are really making a bet on the exchange rate holding steady between the day the contract is signed and the day the work is delivered. Over a two week job that bet rarely matters. Over a project that runs several months, it can.
Where the margin actually goes
Say a project is quoted at ten thousand US dollars, priced to leave a comfortable margin once ringgit costs are covered. If the ringgit strengthens against the dollar during delivery, that same ten thousand dollars converts to fewer ringgit than planned. The client pays exactly what was agreed. The studio absorbs the difference, quietly, because there is no clause that says otherwise.
This does not show up as a single dramatic loss. It shows up as a margin that was planned at one level and lands at another, discovered only when the final invoice is converted and paid. A studio that quotes several fixed-price projects in a year, in different currencies and different months, is carrying this risk on every one of them without ever naming it.
A quote is a promise made in one currency and paid for in another.
What a sensible studio does about it
You cannot remove currency risk from a fixed-price model, but you can price around it. A studio that has done this work for a while will build a small buffer into the quote to cover ordinary currency movement, agree the currency and the exchange reference date in writing or convert the deposit early rather than holding it in the invoiced currency until delivery. None of these steps make the price variable. They make the fixed price honest about what it is actually protecting against.
If you are choosing a studio for a fixed-price engagement, it is worth asking how currency movement is handled before the contract is signed, not after the invoice lands and the number feels different from the one you expected. A studio that has thought about it will have an answer ready. One that has not will be discovering the answer at your expense.