Season's Greetings!

As the year draws to a close, we’re working harder than ever to build a market for you – a market that liberates fixed income futures markets for your benefit. “Winner takes all” is clearly not a structure that works for most customers, and the fixed income futures market is big enough to benefit from competition.

Fortunately, it’s exciting to see this now gaining momentum with more buy-side, PTGs, brokers and props joining CurveGlobal and trading in more volume on our order book and in the block market.    

You’re making a difference!

Over the course of a year, it’s easy to lose perspective on just how far we’ve all come together. As an example, in the first six days of November 2018, you traded more than in the whole of November last year. Our share of Open Interest peaked in November – SONIA: 53%; Euribor: 3.1%; Three-month Sterling: 4.53%. All significantly higher and growing.

Thank you to all of the folks who have traded, connected, offered us advice, supported and encouraged us. It’s making a difference. We hope you are seeing it; and with it, the real benefits of competition.

• When we reduced the tick size in Three-month Sterling futures, it was quickly copied by one of our competitors. How does it help? This means that if you trade on ½ a tick for a similar percentage of the time, you’re now trading significantly closer to mid
   
• We launched the first Three-month SONIA future, and have a growing share of trading and Open Interest with our innovative Inter-Commodity Spread. So, you can trade LIBOR and SONIA risk at the same time and also margin them together with swaps
   
• Responding to customer demand to execute blocks at better prices, we allow people to trade with FRA-like precision in blocks but for futures products

Saving you even more money!

1. CurveGlobal’s fee for SONIA futures trading is 2p less than the equivalent Three-month Sterling LIBOR future. We can do it because we are committed to passing on savings on our wholesale costs to our customers
    
2. While the true costs of data are not always clear to the market, CurveGlobal continues to provide its data at no cost to its customers
    
3. With the go-live of portfolio margining at LCH for long-dated bonds, we can offer unprecedented margin savings potential for our customers

It’s really not that hard a decision.

Pies charted

As Christmas is approaching, the team has been making sacrifices on your behalf again. Under my watchful oversight, we’ve been testing the major mince pie sellers. 

After trying many of the major supermarket brands and bakers we can confirm...the worthy runners-up are Konditor and Cook but our Gold Pie Award for 2018 goes to Greggs (other brands of mince pie are available – believe us, we know…).

So now, as we prepare for the year-end, let me take this final opportunity to thank you – from us – for your support.

In terms of adding value, we’ve a game for you to play – who wouldn’t want to throw a snowball at mine or the irrepressible Mr Walker’s face? As you all know, throwing snowballs helps break the ice…Let us know your top score.

Merry Christmas and have a great New Year!

Best,
Andy
aross@curveglobal.com

Snowball Fight!

If you feel like letting off some steam by throwing snowballs at the CurveGlobal team, now’s your chance! Click here or on the image below to play the game – and let us know how you get on. 

Monthly Volumes and Open Interest

Team Spotlight 60 Seconds with...

Andy Ross, Chief Executive at CurveGlobal

1. What are you listening to/reading these days?
I was fortunate enough to attend an event recently where Randy Komisar spoke, so I’m reading his very interesting book, Straight Talk for Startups. I’m about halfway through and feel it’s like having an armchair conversation with an expert who only wants to help you and is on your side.

2. What is the one thing you can’t live without?
My wife and kids – family is very important to me. Though if you asked my wife she would probably say my phone!

3. If you could invite any four dinner guests past or present who would you choose?
The Top 4 guests would be the family – we all work hard so if I could have an extra dinner with anyone it would be my three kids and wife.
 
4. You can do any job for just one day, what would it be?
Playing cricket for Yorkshire – a quickfire ton would be highly unlikely. I’d like to say ‘these days’ but to be honest, I think it would have been unlikely even in my cricketing prime...

5. Ten years ago, where did you think you would be now?
Running a trading desk at an investment bank.

Press Articles of Note
(includes subscription content)

SONIA: TRADING OPPORTUNITIES IN AN EMERGING BENCHMARK
VELA

PROP TRADERS UNHAPPY ABOUT EUREX TRADING HOUR EXTENSION
FOW.COM

FIXED-INCOME HEDGING SET TO CLIMB AS RATES RISE
FT.COM

BANKS DEMAND GREATER SCRUTINY OF CCP MARGIN ADD-ONS
RISK.NET

COMPETITION: ACROSS THE WEST POWERFUL FIRMS ARE BECOMING EVEN MORE POWERFUL
ECONOMIST.COM

Come Visit us Here

FOW // 3rd ANNUAL DERIVATIVES CONFERENCE ISRAEL
FOW DERIVATIVES ISRAEL
13 February 2019 // Sheraton Hotel // Israel

FIA // BOCA 2019
FIA BOCA
12-14 March 2019 // Boca Raton Resort & Club // Boca Raton, FL, USA

To find out more about CurveGlobal or to offer suggestions on improving this newsletter, contact us at +44 20 7797 1055​ or info@curveglobal.com.