If the first half of 2025’s currency markets were characterised by record-breaking months of volumes and volatility, the back half of the year has been defined by a range-bound US dollar, promoting an environment for carry trades in emerging markets (EM), particularly in Latin America, to take off. Positioning in these strategies normally builds when […]
Dealers might be nearing their capacity for Turkish lira options-based carry trades, as liquidity pressures, market risk and unwind concerns begin to constrain the amount of new trading they can support. The lira carry trade has been a favoured strategy among hedge funds and institutional investors this year, owing to the whopping 40% carry on
Vendor tools offering counterparty suggestions to foreign exchange traders should not replace a firm’s own execution assessments, warn market participants. The products, aimed at cash FX trades, can use firm-specific and communal execution data to help buy-side firms standardise and automate counterparty selection. Major transaction cost analysis (TCA) providers BestX and Tradefeedr each offer a
Institutional investors take profit on gold trades – FX Markets Skip to main content End of drawer navigation content Hedge funds trimmed longs after gold rally and triggered massive market selloff Following a 50% year-to-date rally in gold prices to more than $4,000 an ounce, institutional investors have begun closing some of their long positions
Row breaks out over cause of FX settlement fails – FX Markets Skip to main content End of drawer navigation content One European bank blames T+1 for a 50% jump in FX fails, but industry groups dispute the claims A surprising disagreement has broken out between a large European bank and industry groups tasked with
The popularity of hybrid options is expanding beyond hedge funds, with a growing number of asset managers, pension funds and insurers taking advantage of dislocated correlations between asset classes for yield enhancement and cheap long-term hedging. “The biggest chunk has been with hedge funds, but some of the largest trades have been done with asset
Hedge funds switch yen bets after Japan election shock – FX Markets Skip to main content End of drawer navigation content Takaichi victory forces unwinds and a move to topside trades, while barriers give dealers a headache The surprise outcome of the Japanese election has led to a U-turn among many macro hedge funds that
Hedge funds are continuing to run Hong Kong dollar carry trades despite a rise in local interest rates, albeit on a much-reduced scale compared with earlier in the year. Dealers, however, expect a big resurgence in these positions should spot once again hit the bottom of the currency’s trading band, which would force authorities to
As hedge funds have ballooned in recent years, so has their footprint in the few markets large enough to accommodate them. This isn’t a problem when their trades are going well. When those trades backfire, though, it can be a different story – particularly if multiple funds are holding the same position and all try
Entering 2025, the prevailing macro theme throughout the investment community was that the US dollar would continue its dominant path. Years of US exceptionalism – driven by a booming equity market and a resilient labour market – had cemented the dollar as a must-have hedging tool in most portfolios. For example, if there was a
It’s 2025 and you attend another foreign exchange industry conference where, unsurprisingly, the hot topics remain familiar: data-driven FX, streaming swaps, workflow automation, the ‘electronification’ of liquidity, debates on what AI means for our jobs, algo evaluation, and fully automated trade workflows. You return to the office, only to have a conversation with a bank
Crypto’s predictable path from central books to OTC discretion – FX Markets Skip to main content End of drawer navigation content Demand for bilateral trading, like OTC FX market structure, is fuelling crypto’s institutional take-up, finds BridgePort The maturation of any asset class follows a remarkably consistent pattern. From equities to fixed income and foreign
Hedge funds are reloading their short dollar bets – with a few new twists – ahead of US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell’s highly anticipated keynote speech at the central bank’s annual Jackson Hole conference on Friday, August 22. Garth Appelt, head of derivatives, FX and emerging markets macro trading at Mizuho Americas, says
HSBC, Goldman prevail in shake-up of FX Markets’ Dealer Rankings – FX Markets Skip to main content End of drawer navigation content The pair thrived serving US retail funds, while Morgan Stanley retained title with life insurer clients The third edition of FX Markets’ annual exercise in identifying the top dealers in foreign exchange derivatives
Crackdown on FX vendors could raise costs for dealers – FX Markets Skip to main content End of drawer navigation content MTF designation could cost aggregators and EMSs $3m to set up and $1m in annual maintenance Vendors that must register as multilateral trading facilities (MTFs) may end up passing increased regulatory costs on to
US mutual funds and exchange-traded funds went into April’s tariff turmoil holding the highest net long US dollar position in recent years. According to FX Markets’ Counterparty Radar data, mutual funds’ net long USD notional position, via foreign exchange forwards, stood at $455.7 billion by the end of the first quarter, the highest long USD position
Investors hope US rate cuts will lower FX hedging costs – FX Markets Skip to main content End of drawer navigation content European investors in US assets set to boost hedge ratios as implied yields rise As the US dollar has continued its fall after April’s tariff turmoil, foreign investors in US assets have had
