Opinion
ECB, BoE leave rates unchanged
Daragh Maher, senior FX strategist at Calyon in London, evaluates the European Central Bank and the Bank of England's inaction on rates last week, and what lies ahead
Is all well between Cognotec and UBS?
If market rumours are anything to go by, Cognotec could be facing a bit of a bumpy road ahead.
New platforms: ready, steady, go
And it's all systems go, literally. FXMarketSpace is very close to testing in a live environment, with final details being put in place. Meanwhile others, such as FXall's new anonymous trading platform, should have begun piloting by now.
Charting the rise of the ruble
Dmitri Fedotkin, economist at VTB Bank Europe, says the Russian ruble is set to rise further against the dollar and euro this year
The importance of best execution
The biggest piece of news to come out of last week is the sale of Currenex to State Street for $564 million.
Banks gear up for emerging markets push
The competition for emerging market business is hotting up, with US banks preparing for a push.
The forint faces an imminent setback
Meg Browne, senior currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman in New York, warns of the perils facing the Hungarian currency
G10: a roadmap for 2007
Teis Knuthsen, head of FX research at Danske Bank in Copenhagen, outlines a roadmap for G10 currencies in the first half of 2007
Consolidation is the key theme
The theme of consolidation in the brokerage industry continues this year, with Société Générale and Calyon confirming exclusive negotiations to merge their brokerages Fimat and Calyon Financial. But what happened to all that talk about consolidation in…
The USD resurgence may only be temporary
Simon Derrick, head of currency strategy at Bank of New York in London, warns that it may be too soon to be revising those dollar forecasts
Algorithmic trading's new frontier
Happy new year! We're two weeks into 2007 and are already seeing some exciting new developments.
Sterling and the phantom menace – EUR/GBP will rally in 2007
Adrian Hughes, currency strategist at Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking in London, assesses the prospects for sterling in 2007
New Year and new beginnings
This is my final issue of FX Week. After more than two years in the editor's chair, the time has come for me to move on. It's been an interesting and challenging job and one which has taught me a lot about global markets.
The evolution of the market-place
The end of 2006 has brought some welcome relief to FX traders, with volatility rearing its head for the last two months of the year.
Weighing up the alternatives
Jeffrey Lins , Executive Director of Quantitative Analysis at Saxo Bank in Copenhagen, evaluates the pitfalls of using maximum drawdown-based performance measures, and points to recent advances that may help to expand opportunities for investment…
The changing face of liquidity
Paul Ronan and Nicholas Hodder , of technology vendor City Practitioners, consider the impact the increasing prevalence of auto-trading capabilities is likely to have both on banks' efficiency and on spot traders themselves
Quick, look busy! Here comes Mifid
Chip Lowry , senior managing director of State Street Global Link in Europe, looks at what Mifid will mean for the foreign exchange industry
History calls for caution on Kiwi
History suggests we may see one last squeeze higher over Christmas for the kiwi, says Rhiannon Healy, solutions specialist for ANZ in London
The mixed blessings of co-operation
Co-operation in the foreign exchange industry has generally tended to bolster the market.
Voice brokers are adapting to survive
The decision by Icap to move voice-broking staff from the majors to emerging markets shows that the company has realised that the FX landscape is evolving rapidly and is ready to evolve with it. It also demonstrates that the role of the voice broker will…
Preparing for a return to volatility
Persistently low levels of volatility have made it tough to trade the currency markets since late august. Simon Derrick, head of currency strategy at Bank of New York in London, investigates whether the past few months have been anomalous, and how to…
Proportionate regulation is the key
The move by the US and UK regulators to work in closer co-operation can only be a good thing for the market as a whole.
Margin trading – an untapped opportunity
Brian Maccaba , executive chairman of Cognotec, highlights the huge growth in web-based FX margin trading and argues that banks cannot afford to ignore the opportunities that this presents