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Asymmetric information, price discovery and macroeconomic announcements in FX market: do top trading banks know more?

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  • Kate Phylaktis

    (Cass Business School, UK)

  • Long Chen

    (Cass Business School, UK)

Abstract

This study investigates information asymmetry in the foreign exchange market by testing the hypothesis that top trading banks possess superior information on the macroeconomy because they process greater order flow, which, according to the micro-structure literature, helps them aggregate the dispersed information and feel the general movements of the economy. Examining the information share of the banks in the Reuters EFX system using indicative GBP-$US data over 5 years, we find that the top 10 banks, out of 100 quoting banks in the market, have a monthly average share of over 70% of total market information, and around 80% during some US macroannouncements. These results suggest the possibility of private information over public news in the foreign exchange market. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • Kate Phylaktis & Long Chen, 2010. "Asymmetric information, price discovery and macroeconomic announcements in FX market: do top trading banks know more?," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(3), pages 228-246.
    • Handle: RePEc:ijf:ijfiec:v:15:y:2010:i:3:p:228-246
    DOI: 10.1002/ijfe.391
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    2. M. Frömmel & F Van Gysegem, 2014. "Bid-Ask Spread Components on the Foreign Exchange Market: Quantifying the Risk Component," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 14/878, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    3. Krohn, Ingomar & Sushko, Vladyslav, 2022. "FX spot and swap market liquidity spillovers," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    4. Gau, Yin-Feng & Wu, Zhen-Xing, 2014. "Order choices under information asymmetry in foreign exchange markets," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 106-118.
    5. Moore, Michael J. & Payne, Richard, 2011. "On the sources of private information in FX markets," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 1250-1262, May.
    6. Ran Xiao, 2019. "Essays on Price Discovery and Volatility Dynamics in Emerging Market Currencies," PhD Thesis, Finance Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney, number 5-2019, January-A.
    7. Geir H. Bjønnes & Carol L. Osler & Dagfinn Rime, 2021. "Price discovery in two‐tier markets," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(2), pages 3109-3133, April.
    8. Frijns, Bart & Indriawan, Ivan & Tourani-Rad, Alireza, 2015. "Macroeconomic news announcements and price discovery: Evidence from Canadian–U.S. cross-listed firms," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 35-48.
    9. Carol Osler & Xuhang Wang, 2012. "The Microstructure of Currency Markets," Working Papers 49, Brandeis University, Department of Economics and International Business School.
    10. Lukas Menkhoff & Lucio Sarno & Maik Schmeling & Andreas Schrimpf, 2016. "Information Flows in Foreign Exchange Markets: Dissecting Customer Currency Trades," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(2), pages 601-634, April.
    11. Cepoi, Cosmin-Octavian & Anghel, Dan-Gabriel & Pop, Ionuţ Daniel, 2021. "Asymmetries and flight-to-safety effects in the price discovery process of cross-listed stocks," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 302-318.

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