New regulatory data reveal extensive price discrimination against non-financial clients in the FX derivatives market. The client at the 90th percentile pays an effective spread of 0.5%, while the bottom quarter incur transaction costs of less than 0.02%. Consistent with models of search...

For the first time, new regulatory data allow precise measurement of price discrimination against non-financial clients in the FX derivatives market. Consistent with the theoretical literature, transaction costs vary systematically with measures of client sophistication. The median client pays...