The SEF RFQ Minimum is Moving to 3. Does it matter? Nope.

On October 2 market participants requesting price quotes for an order via a SEF will have to ask a minimum of three dealers to respond rather than the current minimum of two. For those of you that followed the SEF rule writing process from the beginning, you’ll remember that the inclusion of RFQ as an acceptable trading […]

Corporate End Users Unfazed by Derivatives Reform

Earlier this year we spoke with just shy of 400 corporate treasurers about their use of interest rate derivatives.  Given this group of IRD users isn’t covered as closely from a market structure perspective as financial end users, I was excited to see what trends we could find within the interview responses.  So with the […]

US equity brokers made more money than last year – finally

We’ve just released the results of our benchmark US equities study, based on almost 600 interviews with US equity investors.  While Greenwich has been conducting this study for literally decades, this is my first market structure analysis of the data since joining the firm last summer.  The report includes the expected critical data points – total […]

Where in the world is volatility?

I’m a little obsessed with volatility lately – well, the lack of it actually.  The VIX has been hovering around 12 for months despite emerging markets turmoil, rigging scandals and regulatory environment that can only be described as volatile. How can volatility be so low in a market where complexity and uncertainty are so high? Calm markets […]

ETFs as part of the credit liquidity story

Liquidity in the corporate bond market is tough.  We’ve written about it time and time again.  At a high level we see two solutions.  One, inject new electronic trading tools and liquidity providers into the existing corporate bond market to better match buyers and sellers (a theme discussed in our 2014 European Fixed Income Study).  Two, […]

Increased Cloud Adoption Should be a No-Brainer for Hedge Funds

Its been a while since I’ve written a real techy piece, so had a fun time with this one.  While it might seem a bit out of left field given a recent focus on fixed income market structure, it is in fact the growth of structured derivatives trading that is making the use case for […]

U.S. Equities Market Structure Update

My first nine months at Greenwich have been focused on fixed income and FX markets.  With the release of Greenwich’s annual North American equities study for which we spoke with nearly 550 portfolio managers and traders, the time has come to talk equities.  To that end, on June 4 we’ll be hosting a webinar to discuss […]

Package trade rules – can they do that?

On Thursday May 1 the CFTC released an eagerly awaited clarifying document outlining when and how package trades would be required on SEF.  Packaged transactions will be phased in by type from May 15th through November 15th, and to deal with the pre-trade credit checking issue (checking limits against each leg as opposed to the limit utilization […]