Interbank market — fundament FX systemu

Tier 1 banks (top 15) dominują interbank market. Top 5 FX market share (Euromoney 2024): (1) JPMorgan Chase: ~10% market share. (2) UBS: ~9%. (3) XTX Markets (HFT, non-bank): ~8%. (4) Deutsche Bank: ~7%. (5) Citi: ~6%. Other tier 1: HSBC, Barclays, Goldman, BofA, Morgan Stanley, BNP Paribas, Société Générale, Standard Chartered, ANZ, RBC. Functions tier 1: (1) Market making: continuous bid-ask provision. (2) Client servicing: corporate FX (Apple buying euros for European purchase), funds, central banks. (3) Prop trading: bank own positions (reduced post-Volcker rule 2010 USA). (4) Settlement intermediation: CLS Bank settlement chains. Specialization: Deutsche EUR pairs, JPMorgan USD primary, Citi EM (emerging markets), HSBC Asia/CNY, BNP Paribas European. Pricing engine: each bank computes fair value internally based: order flow, positions, news, correlations. Quotes tighten dla good clients, wider dla risk. Retail connection: tier 1 banks rarely deal direct retail. Multi-layer chain: retail → broker → liquidity aggregator → prime broker → tier 1 bank.

Interbank trading happens primarily 2 platforms: EBS (Electronic Broking Services): CME Group-owned since 2018. Origin 1993 by consortium banks. Anonymous matching. Markets: EUR/USD, USD/JPY, EUR/JPY, USD/CHF — major pairs liquidity center. Volume: $100-200 billion daily EUR/USD alone. Spread: 0.05-0.1 pips EUR/USD typowo, peak hours. Reuters D2 (now Refinitiv FXall): LSEG-owned. Origin Reuters 1990s. Multi-bank request-for-quote (RFQ) + direct dealer-to-dealer. Markets: GBP/USD, AUD/USD, NZD/USD — major non-EBS pairs. EM currencies. Volume: $80-150B daily. Differences: EBS anonymous central limit order book (CLOB), Reuters RFQ + bilateral. EBS preferred algorithmic, Reuters preferred relationship trading. Modern evolution: single-bank platforms growing (Citi Velocity, JPMorgan e-FX, Deutsche Autobahn). Direct corporate access tier 1 banks. Trader implication: retail trader spread EUR/USD 0.3-1.5 pips = retail markup OVER interbank 0.05-0.1 pip. Broker margin 3-20×. ECN brokers tighten this (0.1-0.3 pips real markup). Skew: institutional benefits from tier 1 quotes. Retail benefits ECN access (closer to interbank).

Spot FX settlement T+2 = 2 business days after trade. Why T+2: historical convention. Bank settlement systems need time match positions, transfer funds. Modern instantaneous possible ale industry comfortable T+2. Settlement risk pre-CLS: bank A trades z bank B. Bank A sends USD Monday, expects EUR Tuesday from B. Bank B fails (Herstatt risk, 1974 Herstatt Bank collapse). Bank A loses USD without receiving EUR. Massive systemic risk. CLS solution: Continuous Linked Settlement Bank, est. 2002. PvP (Payment versus Payment) — simultaneous exchange. Eliminates Herstatt risk. CLS membership: ~70 tier 1 banks globally. Multi-currency settlement infrastructure. Settles $5-7 trillion daily FX. Critical infrastructure financial system. Trader implication retail: NIE see T+2 directly. Broker handles. Position can be "rolled" overnight via swap = avoid settlement (broker swaps z liquidity provider). Triple swap środa = 3-day weekend settlement (T+2 środa = piątek = weekend = monday liquidity available). Broker charges 3× swap dla compensate. Forward FX = different settlement (T+30, T+90, T+180). Used corporate hedging. NIE retail spot trading.

Retail trader → tier 1 bank multi-layer chain: Layer 1 (retail trader): opens position broker MT4. Sees quote EUR/USD 1.09005/1.09010. Layer 2 (retail broker): IC Markets, Pepperstone, XM, etc. Receives order. Two paths: B-book (MM): keeps internal. Broker counterparty. Common dla small accounts. A-book (ECN/STP): passes order to next layer. Layer 3 (liquidity aggregator): e.g. Integral, FlexTrade, oneZero. Combines multiple LP quotes into best price. Aggregates 10-30 banks/non-banks. Routes order best LP. Layer 4 (prime broker): tier 2 bank lub specialized PB. E.g. Saxo Bank, Goldman Sachs PB, JPMorgan PB. Provides credit + settlement small brokers can't access direct interbank. Layer 5 (tier 1 bank): JPMorgan/Citi/Deutsche. Actually executes trade. EBS lub Reuters platform. Layer 6 (CLS settlement): T+2 settlement. Multi-currency exchange. Implications spread: each layer adds markup. Retail 0.3-1.5 pips, broker 0.1-0.3 markup, aggregator 0.05 markup, PB 0.05 markup, interbank 0.05-0.1 pips. Total cost retail = 5-15× interbank. ECN brokers eliminate some layers — closer interbank pricing. Order routing speed: layer 1 → layer 5 = 10-50ms typical. Liquidity aggregators key competitive factor.