The Last Look…
Posted by Colin Lambert. Last updated: December 19, 2023
Just as we listed our 10 “most-read” stories at the top of the last newsletter of 2023 – it’s an advantage of signing up, there’s always exclusive content there – I thought I would take a quick look at the issues that triggered the biggest responses, in terms of feedback and reads, with regard to this column.
While for many readers the top issues will not be a surprise, they will be to some, who continue to argue that nothing is wrong in the FX garden. As we noted in the newsletter, after this column the most read articles of the year were the 12 What Happened at the Month-End Fix? articles – that, above all else, tells me that people are aware that there is still a problem around the Fix. Equally, two of our top-10 most-read Last Looks were also about pre-hedging and the Fix.
Another highly-read theme was when we dipped into asymmetric round-trip times on some platforms. You may recall there were some pretty outrageous numbers involved and the mailbag was packed full and of one mind – in this day and age, anything other than the very slightest asymmetry should be eradicated, and any LP demonstrating high asymmetry is likely playing games in the minds of the consumers.
The related theme of transparency on platforms is another popular theme, and at least here we can see some movement, albeit nowhere near enough. It’s not only about the rules of the platforms and their availability and enforcement, it is also about the data published. A lot of readers were, are, very complementary of those venues that offer granularity in their volume data and also an insight into the performance of the technology. Hopefully a theme of 2024 will be a shift towards those platforms who really open a window into their operations – I don’t think it is a surprise that one of the better performing platforms on 2023 in the spot market was Cboe FX.
Generally speaking, anything on the platforms gets people excited – as reflected by the most read Last look for the year. The number one article was pricing on platforms, promoted by change at FXSpotStream, which says a lot. The good news I suppose is that readers retain a passion for what these venues are doing, the downside, for some, is that they are clearly going to come under greater scrutiny!
With that, I will close with my heartfelt thanks to all of you who read our newsletter weekly and offer such great feedback and opinions on what is written, particularly in The Last Look. It’s all very well having an opinion – and I have a few! – but the reality is the ongoing dialogue with the readership is really what drives this column, and for that I am truly humble and thankful.
I would like to wish all our readers the very best of luck for 2024, and express the wish that our dialogue continues into 2024.