The Full FX Podcast: Currency Matters

Colin Lambert

Talking everything currency – fiat and crypto!

Episodes

  1. 07/04/2024

    The Full FX Podcast – Currency Matters

    In the latest edition of the podcast, Steve Flanagan and Colin Lambert are joined by The Full FX’ contributing editor at large, Eva Szalay, who knows how to make an impact by going straight in and asking Lambert about recent research on the various fixes. Thankfully, Lambert does not spend the entire podcast ranting, instead he and Flanagan discuss the intricacies of executing large tickets and the role of pre-hedging – even though neither can remember the phrase from their voice trading days! The discussion progresses through to the signalling risk involved in large ticket execution – Flanagan highlights the “digital crumbs” left behind – and the impact this has around the Fix window, especially at month-end. The chat then moves onto another theme of the past month in The Full FX, with Szalay highlighting the ambiguity around the Trading Perimeter in the UK and EU, and the lack of action from the regulators, regarding what constitutes a trading platform and who exactly should be registering? The three discuss the impact, or not, of the regulation, as well as the view of the trading desks when it comes to registered/non-registered venues, before Lambert asks Szalay if the regulators will wake up one day – much to the distress of the market. After a brief pause, during which Lambert tries to sell Flanagan to potential sponsors (yes, really!), the discussion moves onto sales coverage, a theme on which Lambert and Flanagan have differing views, and the skill sets required in the modern market. The podcast ends with Lambert asking Szalay, “T+1: What was all the fuss about?” and the three talk about the rise of “guess-hedging”, the opportunities and challenges involved, silver coins and Y2K. before observing that the whole event was yet another example of the FX industry preparing well for a known-unknown event. The post The Full FX Podcast – Currency Matters appeared first on The Full FX.

    44 min
  2. 04/27/2024

    The Full FX Podcast: Currency Matters

    The latest edition of the podcast sees Colin Lambert and Steve Flanagan allow a former FX salesperson into the conversation in Full FX regular Ted Holloway, as they discuss the big stories and issues of the previous month. The conversation kicks off with Lambert challenging Flanagan on his view in a previous column, that all is good in the liquidity world. If that is the case, Lambert asks, why do industry surveys always show it to be a top-two concern? Flanagan has an answer, naturally, but Lambert also asks Holloway – is this actually a client perspective problem? A lively chat ensues, including a debate over execution quality, the impact of balance sheet and credit constraints on banks’ ability to grow, as well as what constitutes a “good amount”? They also ask, is a new era of white labelling upon us – albeit under a new name? Holloway provides a great insight into how he thinks the sales/trading relationship should work, including a widely-used system that he sees as “ridiculous”, and how it fits into the broader FX business model. The conversation then turns to Flanagan’s recent column on market data risk, allowing him to expand on his opinions, while Holloway looks at how such a cyber incident could impact a participant’s reputation, arguing, it’s not a question of ‘if’ more one of ‘when’ – in spite of the tremendous efforts of so many people to guard against it. There is also time for a debate on correlations – do they work and are they their own risk? – as well as for Flanagan to ask Lambert for his view on CLS’ decision not to change the cut-off time as the industry approaches the North American T+1 switchover at the end of May. The ‘cast closes out with a quick chat about the lack of impact of the Trading Perimeter guidance in the UK and Europe – and how it would change the market if the guidance was actually enforced. And there is, naturally, time for Flanagan (and Holloway) to cast aspersions upon Lambert’s Trade of the Year! The post The Full FX Podcast: Currency Matters appeared first on The Full FX.

    46 min
  3. 03/04/2024

    The Full FX Podcast - Currency Matters

    The podcast is back in 2024 with a new format as Colin Lambert is joined by two contributors to The Full FX, Steve Flanagan and Andrew Durrant to discuss the big issues of the past month. The first episode hopefully sets the tone for the future with Flanagan immediately questioning Lambert over his comments in another podcast relating to flash crashes. With Durrant, they debate the question, ‘what is a flash crash?’, asking, ‘is what we see in these events just a new market norm?’ The discussion on the related re-papering of trades manages to drag the chat into “dinosaur trading” and the concept of doubling up until you can’t any more (at which time you exit the building), and speaking of doubling up, Flanagan probably reflects the wider Full FX audience, by not seeming to be happy with Lambert’s 2024 Trade of the Year. That is as maybe, but Lambert is equally unhappy when Flanagan introduces facts into the conversation, pointing out that being long PEN/GEL incurs a 3% carry charge over the year – this on top of a trade that is already underwater! The conversation then moves onto third-party services in FX and the transparency (or lack of) around these arrangements, especially in an age when cyber security is such a big issue. The three see some anomalies in the JP Morgan 2024 e-Trading Edit, mainly around an apparent lack of concern on security, but have a good idea why that is. Somehow, this leads out trio into a conversation about the influence of human traders on markets, before they close out by discussing the recent GFXC review of the FX Global Code. Durrant gets general agreement when he says that the Code continues to be fit for purpose, but it is noted that the only area of concern in the survey was over our old friends last look and pre-hedging. It was accepted that only a minority share those concerns, but, long time listeners to the In the FICC Of It podcast will be delighted to hear, Lambert has one of his “theories” to explain why it may be a bigger issue than many think. Listen here, or subscribe from your podcast store. The post The Full FX Podcast – Currency Matters appeared first on The Full FX.

    35 min

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Talking everything currency – fiat and crypto!