It’s a difficult time to be a big bank commodity trader. Trading revenue in fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC) is down significantly at the bank. What, with regulatory agencies around the western world cutting down on documented market manipulation in Libor, currency and commodity markets, the old big bank prop desks could be facing a new market environment. In fact, some traders at prop desks now might be forced to play by the same rules as their hedge fund brethren, is the talk. But one market environment that can be discussed publicly influencing bank trading revenues is volatility. JPMorgan…
Banks FICC Revenues Dip Amid Low Volatility & Regulation
Mark Melin
Mark Melin is an alternative investment practitioner whose specialty is recognizing the impact of beta market environment on a technical trading strategy. A portfolio and industry consultant, wrote or edited three books including High Performance Managed Futures (Wiley 2010) and The Chicago Board of Trade’s Handbook of Futures and Options (McGraw-Hill 2008) and taught a course at Northwestern University's executive education program.