Foreign exchange spot

A foreign exchange spot transaction, also known as FX spot, is an agreement between two parties to buy one currency against selling another currency at an agreed price for settlement on the spot date. The exchange rate at which the transaction is done is called the spot exchange rate. As of 2010, the average daily turnover of global FX spot transactions reached nearly 1.5 trillion USD, counting 37.4% of all foreign exchange transactions.[1] FX spot transactions increased by 38% to 2.0 trillion USD from April 2010 to April 2013.[2]

Settlement date

The standard settlement timeframe for foreign exchange spot transactions is T+2; i.e., two business days from the trade date. Notable exceptions are USD/CAD, USD/TRY, USD/PHP, USD/RUB, and offshore USD/KZT and USD/PKR currency pairs, which settle at T+1[3]. Majority of SME FX payments are made through Spot FX, partially because businesses aren't aware of alternatives [4].

Execution methods

Common methods of executing a spot foreign exchange transaction include the following:[1]

  • Direct – Executed between two parties directly and not intermediated by a third party. For example, a transaction executed via direct telephone communication or direct electronic dealing systems such as Reuters Conversational Dealing
  • Electronic broking systems – Executed via automated order matching system for foreign exchange dealers. Examples of such systems are EBS and Reuters Matching 2000/2
  • Electronic trading systems – Executed via a single-bank proprietary platform or a multibank dealing system. These systems are generally geared towards customers. Examples of multibank systems include Fortex Technologies, Inc., 360TGTX, FXSpotStream LLC, Integral, FXall, HotSpotFX, Currenex, LMAX Exchange, FX Connect, Prime Trade, Globalink, Seamless FX, and eSpeed
  • Voice broker – Executed via telephone with a foreign exchange voice broker
gollark: TCP can't protect you from:- network failures- the other end not sending packets for whatever reason- general weirdness
gollark: You can probably trust your own server decently, but only if you can trust that it's definitely the real server, and you *cannot* trust the network connection.
gollark: You should at least make it handle any big issues *sensibly* and not just silently do the wrong thing.
gollark: It could accidentally send the wrong thing or explode or something.
gollark: Or do something else.

See also

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.