They say that you get what you pay for, but that’s not strictly true in FX. As we all know, the buy side is extremely well serviced and has to pay for very little. It can trade on multiple venues without paying a commission. Of course it could be argued that the explicit cost of trading is insignificant compared to the implicit one, but many banks now allow their clients to put in their own bids and offers on their proprietary platforms.
The commission-free nature of the market baffles many who are used to being striped up trading other assets. It has also, dare I say it, challenged the thinking of many a publisher, but not the good folk here at Euromoney. They have prudently adopted the very same model for this column, which is now free to all eligible buy side participants.