Financial Times Roils Euro Markets Moments Before ECB Rates Decision

Extreme volatility has caused a stir on the currency markets this European afternoon after a sloppy tweet by the Financial Times. About 10 minutes before the scheduled time for the release of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) statement regarding interest rates, set for 12:45 GMT, the Twitter account belonging to the financial newspaper proclaimed that there won’t be a cut in rates.

As a result, short EUR/USD traders headed for the exits and Liquidity Liquidity The term liquidity refers to the process, speed, and ease of which a given asset or security can be converted into cash. Notably, liquidity surmises a retention in market price, with the most liquid assets representing cash.The most liquid asset of all is cash itself.· In economics, liquidity is defined by how efficiently and quickly an asset can be converted into usable cash without materially affecting its market price. · Nothing is more liquid than cash, while other assets represent The term liquidity refers to the process, speed, and ease of which a given asset or security can be converted into cash. Notably, liquidity surmises a retention in market price, with the most liquid assets representing cash.The most liquid asset of all is cash itself.· In economics, liquidity is defined by how efficiently and quickly an asset can be converted into usable cash without materially affecting its market price. · Nothing is more liquid than cash, while other assets represent Read this Term disappeared from the market for several seconds on some trading platforms in the run up to the official announcement by the ECB.

It would all have played out well for the Financial Times if the European Central Bank had indeed left rates unchanged. Come 12:45 GMT, the official statement read that the Governing Council of the monetary policy setting body of the Eurozone has decided to cut rates further into negative territory.

The rollercoaster continued and resulted in a number of swings. Before any of the events described above hit the wires, the EUR/USD was quietly trading around 1.0543. In the aftermath go the ECB tweet, the rate spiked to about 1.0678 only to get hammered and mark a new multi-month low around 1.0515. Profit taking kicked in and a new high at 1.0692 was hit moments after the announcement.

If there was any way to stress test a risk management system for brokers, today was a great day to have a look at how it is faring. A number of brokers have been requiting clients with some platforms freezing in the aftermath of the rate decision.

While the Swiss National Bank Black Swan Black Swan A Black Swan event is most commonly associated with an unforeseen calamity or event. In its most basic form, this event results in disastrous consequences for multiple parties, markets, or individuals and are characterized as extraordinarily rare in frequency, yet are seemingly predictable in retrospect. In the foreign exchange space, the most noteworthy of these events in recent memory was the Swiss National Bank (SNB) crisis which roiled currency markets back on January 15, 2015.During this in A Black Swan event is most commonly associated with an unforeseen calamity or event. In its most basic form, this event results in disastrous consequences for multiple parties, markets, or individuals and are characterized as extraordinarily rare in frequency, yet are seemingly predictable in retrospect. In the foreign exchange space, the most noteworthy of these events in recent memory was the Swiss National Bank (SNB) crisis which roiled currency markets back on January 15, 2015.During this in Read this Term was an event on a much greater scale, today’s events show that a number of brokers continue to be experiencing technical difficulties that may hit them hard at some point in the future.

Meanwhile, the team at the Financial Times better get some due diligence applied to its Twitter feed and its sources... unless it has a trading department of its own.