Loading ...Confused by the new London silver fix? You should be!
The mechanism for the new London silver fix leaves market expert Ross Norman totally confused. Is it workable and will it improve transparency? Will it be better than the old one?
Author: Ross Norman
Posted: Wednesday , 13 Aug 2014
LONDON (SHARPSPIXLEY.COM) –
The silver market has cause for concern…
This Friday sees Thomson Reuters and CME roll-out of their new fixing engine and market participants are understandably clueless about how it works less than three days before it goes live. With the traditional fixing members have stepping away, it remains a mystery who will be taking the fix orders – with a deafening silence from market participants.
Oddly, if you can identify who your orders are to go through, then you have to get the calculator out because Reuters advise that prices are no longer in US dollars per ounce but US dollars per “lakh” or 100,000 ounces … why ?
The Reuters ‘explainer’ goes on to state that if the fix is within a 300,000 tolerance then it will fix … so what happens to the residual amounts – especially if no one steps up to be a “participant” ? And do all the new participants or “fixing members” as they were formerly called all have bilateral credit arrangements so those deals can settle ? I have no idea.
Meanwhile the design looks quite retro in a DOS sort of way – Clive Sinclair would be impressed – with catchy descriptors like “quote:LDNXAGAUC1” to enter presumably your orders … see below … and cry.
more http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/content/en/mineweb-independent-viewpoint?oid=249986&sn=Detail