Quote from Ivanovich:
I'm chatting with them at the moment. He claimed it was exceptionally volatile. Nothing has been volatile all day, and this was 1:30PM EST.
fwiw
i have noticed for several weeks now that spreads in most of the crosses i trade have been extremely volatile on three different live platforms. it does not matter if the mkts are volatile or not, but the spreads and thus prices are. it became so ridiculous that i contacted one of the brokers about it. i have cut & pasted their reply as it might help you understand
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Thank you for the email.
Thank you for your interest in FXCM. The market currently is displaying temporarily abnormal spreads and rollovers.
Due to financial market turmoil, bank price providers are widening their spreads. As the rates that we stream are based on the rates provided to us by multiple global banks, the spreads displayed on the platform will likely be wider than normal. We expect spreads to return to normal levels within a few days.
The last time there was significant stress in the money markets, August 2007, when the recent bank sector issues started, the event lasted a few days before normalizing.
Rollover rates will be significantly different from normal due the extreme conditions of the credit markets. Central bank intervention is playing havoc with short-term interest rates. There may be instances where roll rates are negative on both the buy and sell side. FXCM roll rates are reflective of the roll rates that are being given to us by our banks.
When financial crisis becomes this serious central banks often want to reduce speculation and therefore volatility. The easiest way to do that is to hike up rollover rates (overnight rates) and make the spreads super wide. This means that no matter what direction the speculator is in he is going to be paying the roll.
Also in the direction banks really don't want you to be in they will make the roll prohibitive. For example during the Asian crisis in 1998 the Hong Kong monetary authorities raised overnight rates to about 500 percent for two days to make it painful for speculators to short the HK dollar. The same is happening now to a smaller degree.
As a trading firm, we seek to be very transparent in our pricing and our business. We would be happy to discuss this further with you, please let us know if we may clarify further.
For more on the current volatility, click on the following Bloomberg and DailyFX articles here:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ax0QSsoONH14
http://www.dailyfx.com/story/market...Market_Conditions_Dries_up_1221664762744.html
Regards,
FXCM Micro - Sales & Client Services
32 Old Slip, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10005