Banks FX Rigging

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015...PJ20150519?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews

 

how does that in any way hurt me?

if anything, it helps because 5 big banks all moving at the same time is a recognizable pattern and good for volatility, which is the traders bread and butter

 

it's always a crooked game. If it wasn't it would be just like betting on a coin flip

 

Because they were rigging the settlement of the interest rate on which your margin calculations were based. So you were probably paying more in margin than you should have been had it been driven by real market forces.

 

fair enough

 

"Five big banks face criminal charges and $5 billion bill over FX rigging"

headline in 2 years after Americans get distracted on who knows what other bullshit:

"Five big banks have agreed to a $15 million dollar penalty on the grounds of no admission of guilt but with steps to reform their best practices"

 

Total nonsense. This batch of fines is for forex, not rates, manipulation. And even if it were for rates, the manipulation was generally to lowball rates, thus reduce "margin calculations," albeit trivially.

 

forex and rates....one and the same

 

I heard part of these fines were for the libor fixing and other parts were for collusion on fixed daily fx exchange rates

 

still not exactly sure how I was hurt, but if you say I was I'll take your word for it