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Foreign Exchange Market Microstructure and the WM/Reuters 4pm Fix

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  • Patrick Steffen Michelberger
  • Jan Hendrik Witte

Abstract

A market fix serves as a benchmark for foreign exchange (FX) execution, and is employed by many institutional investors to establish an exact reference at which execution takes place. The currently most popular FX fix is the World Market Reuters (WM/R) 4pm fix. Execution at the WM/R 4pm fix is a service offered by FX brokers (normally banks), who deliver execution at the fix provided they obtain the trade order until a certain time prior to 4pm. In this paper, we study the market microstructure around 4pm. We demonstrate that market dynamics can be distinguished from other times during the day through increased volatility and size of movements. Our findings question the aggregate benefit to the client base of using the 4pm fix in its current form.

Suggested Citation

  • Patrick Steffen Michelberger & Jan Hendrik Witte, 2015. "Foreign Exchange Market Microstructure and the WM/Reuters 4pm Fix," Papers 1501.07778, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2016.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:1501.07778
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Bjonnes, Geir Hoidal & Rime, Dagfinn, 2005. "Dealer behavior and trading systems in foreign exchange markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(3), pages 571-605, March.
    2. Osler, Carol & Savaser, Tanseli, 2011. "Extreme returns: The case of currencies," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(11), pages 2868-2880, November.
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    Cited by:

    1. Corsetti, G. & Lafarguette, R. & Mehl, A., 2019. "Fast Trading and the Virtue of Entropy: Evidence from the Foreign Exchange Market," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1970, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    2. Benenchia, Matteo & Galati, Luca & Lepone, Andrew, 2024. "To fix or not to fix: The representativeness of the WM/R methodology that underpins the FX benchmark rates. A pre-registered report," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    3. Nuria Boot & Timo Klein & Maarten Pieter Schinkel, 2017. "Collusive Benchmark Rates Fixing," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 17-122/VII, Tinbergen Institute, revised 17 Apr 2019.
    4. Michael Moore & Andreas Schrimpf & Vladyslav Sushko, 2016. "Downsized FX markets: causes and implications," BIS Quarterly Review, Bank for International Settlements, December.
    5. Boilard, J.-F. & Kanazawa, K. & Takayasu, H. & Takayasu, M., 2018. "Empirical scaling relations of market event rates in foreign currency market," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 509(C), pages 1152-1161.

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