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Are there any websites/books that give an overview of OTC markets? Specifically, I'm looking for information about OTC markets for fixed income, commodities, and derivatives.

My guess is that since the dollar is the reserve currency of the world, Americans relatively have less of a need to know about other currencies. Because of this, it may be that Americans are not familiar with the typical spread on currencies, and the various institutitions can mark up the spread...

I think you're making an apples and oranges comparison here. Are you also buying currency in Europe at an airport? If you're not, the spread at an airport is obviously going to be much higher than if you went to a financial institution. I've never used it myself, but most banks here in the U.S...

Nothing - I was suggesting that singling out credit default swaps is not the correct course of action. Credit default swaps were also not the culprit of the financial crisis. Excessive leverage by various firms made it so that they had no margin for any potential downside. The fact that...

Here's a question - how is a credit default swap any different from a equity put option considering how both are designed to let the buyer hedge downside risk.

I noticed there were three different expirations at the same strike on SPY options. I'm guessing one of them is the quarterly one, but what is the last one?

Ok, let's say that you're right. Here's the other part of my previous post: Since you think that OTC forex brokers can quote anything they want, can you give me an example and evidence of a broker whose quotes are different than those on Globex when accounting for spreads and commissions?

In the example I gave earlier, the only thing a trader would need to do to arbitrage the difference would be to simultaneously buy at 1.2001 on Broker ABC and sell an equivalent amount at 1.2020 on Globex. You really don't care if EUR/USD goes up or down as you're delta neutral. At some point...

That is irrelevant, since the entire concept of arbitrage revolves around the fact that a price discrepancy cannot exist for a long time. For example, let's say Broker ABC has EUR/USD at 1.2000/1.2001 while the CME has EUR/USD at 1.2020/1.2021. If such a gap does exist for an extended period of...

Why does it matter where the quotes come from? If you're worried that your broker has a conflict of interest, why not compare the quotes from your broker to those of the CME group? If there's any measurable difference after accounting for the spread and any commissions, couldn't you arbitrage...

I remember reading somewhere that Bloomberg TV uses Hotspot FXi as the source of their quotes.

The majority of the public in all countries around the world is long equities. Those who oppose it are trying to "protect" their positions against the misguided belief that short sellers cause equities to go down. Here's something to think about - would the same people who oppose short...

When you say regulated, don't you actually mean centrally cleared? That sounds like a great idea in theory, but vanilla options can be traded on a centralized exchange because they are largely standardized contracts. Other derivatives such as swaps or exotic options are much harder to do so...

My apologies - I didn't actually watch the video and presumed that he was talking about using USD with merchants. I find it hard to believe that a FX booth at an airport would refuse to exchange USD considering the fact that they usually mark up the exchange rate anywhere from 5 to 10 percent...

Out of curiosity, where are you getting the 14% figure? Someone with $100,000 in income is paying closer to 20% when the brackets are weighted.

I am not an economist, but here are my views on the current situation in Europe. If the debt crisis in the PIIGS gets worse, the Euro will dissolve altogether. I do not see a scenario where there will be a northern currency and southern currency due to that fact that economic and political...

Many people refuse to accept foreign currency because of hassles such as time and the fees involved in converting such a small amount back into the domestic currency. The fact that someone would not accept USD in a foreign country does not really signify anything in particular. Think of it this...

You can always play poker on the weekends. Many of the skills required for successful trading translate well into poker. :)

I was commenting on the premise that around the clock trading is something new when it not. Forex has been like this for years now.

Nothing to see here. Forex is already 24/5 so it's not like anyone looking for "action" will see anything new with this announcement.