Topic · Core Finance & Asset Classes
← All topicsForeign Exchange
55 articles · 7 checkpoints · 28 deeper reads · 20 reference notes
Every article, in reading order
plant a flag as you finish eachRead these first
There is no direct, liquid market for most currency pairs on earth. Traders instead route through the US dollar as a common intermediate step, and the price you see for an exotic pair is usually built, not quoted, from two dollar legs.
Every FX price is one currency measured in another, so the first thing you must know is which is which. Base versus quote currency, pips, big figures, and which side of the spread you are on.
When dollar funding markets freeze abroad, the Federal Reserve lends dollars directly to other central banks, who then relend them to banks in their own jurisdiction, a backstop built to stop a local shortage from becoming a global crisis.
If you can lock in every step of a round trip through another currency, the outcome has to match simply staying at home. That single no-arbitrage condition pins the forward exchange rate to the two interest rates.
Many currencies are not pegged to a single dollar rate but managed against a weighted basket of trading partners, and allowed to drift inside a band that itself moves over time.
A forward locks in an exchange rate today for settlement on a future date. Dealers do not quote the rate itself, they quote the small adjustment to spot called forward points, and that number comes from the interest-rate gap rather than from any view on the currency.
An FX swap lets you borrow one currency by posting another as collateral, and the swap points you pay back out embed an interest rate, often a cheaper or more available one than borrowing directly.
Then the rest
- 26FX Swaps