, Columnist
The Unnerving Mystery of a $6.6 Trillion Dead Calm
A period of unusually low foreign-exchange volatility may presage a turn in the dollar.
After this eerie calm, what comes next?
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Here is a puzzle that is preoccupying the world’s currency dealing rooms.
No market is more liquid and nothing is more heavily traded than foreign exchange. The latest survey by the Bank of International Settlements, carried out in April, showed that total currency volumes traded per day reached $6.6 trillion (yes, trillion with a t). In fact, while other markets remain quieter than they were before the global financial crisis, foreign exchange volumes have more than doubled.