Bilateral streams slash FX trading costs by 80%, dealers claim

Risk Live: FX dealers report 70% of spot traded in bilateral feeds, at least four times cheaper than RFQs and venues

High-frequency trading

The market for spot foreign exchange has largely shifted from traditional trading venues to bilateral streams, where transaction costs can be as much as 80% lower for large trades, dealers claim.  

Srichakri Adhikarapatti, global head of electronic FX, rates and credit quant trading at UBS, says “upwards of 70%” of the bank’s spot FX business is now traded bilaterally via electronic interfaces known as APIs.

The primary inducement is price. According to David Leigh, global head of FX spot and

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