I see the question all the time about where prices come from in the forex market and who drives them. The answer is that it comes from the market makers in the inter-bank market. Want to know who the big players are there? Here’s the current ranking as per Euromoney (hat tip to Clint at BabyPips).
Source: Euromoney FX survey FX Poll 2009
According to that same survey, the daily volume of forex trading breaks down like this:
- Western Europe 50.19%
- North America 26.98%
- Asia 14.54%
- All others 8.39%
Here’s something most folks probably don’t realize, however. According to a Financial Times article posted today, about two thirds of the $3.2 trillion in daily forex market transaction volume done each day is derivatives (see Most Active Forex Currency Pairs). That’s heavily in swaps. The focal point of that FT article is on the potential impact of new legislation requiring derivatives to be cleared through central clearinghouses.
It’s worth noting that the only bank in the ranking list above that does retail forex trading business is Deutsche Bank, which has the dbFX platform. The way I understand it, DB is a major liquidity provider to retail forex brokers. So the answer to the question of who is making prices in the forex market is Deutsche Bank.
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About the Author
John Forman, author of this blog, has traded for more than 20 years, is a professional market analyst, and authored The Essentials of Trading. He is an active participant in trading forums, consults for trading related businesses, as published literally dozens of trading articles, and has been quoted in a number of books and in the media.
** See John’s full bio.
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