Hedge funds are significant players in the U.S. capital markets, but differ from other market participants in important ways such their use of a wide range of complex trading strategies and instruments, leverage, opacity to outsiders, and their compensation structure. The traditional bulwark...

This paper examines how risk in trading activity can affect the volatility of asset prices. We look for this relationship in the behavior of interest rate swap spreads and in the volume and interest rates of repurchase contracts. Specifically, we focus on convergence trading, in which...

Despite investors' willingness to hold a variety of financial assets and risks, a significant share of interest rate options exposures remains in the hands of dealers. This concentration of risk makes the interest rate options market an ideal place to explore the effects of dealers' dynamic...

Hedge funds, with assets under management approaching an estimated $1.5 trillion in 2006, have become important players in the U.S. and global capital markets. These largely unregulated funds differ from other market participants in their use of a variety of complex trading strategies and...

While trading activity is generally thought to play a central role in the self-stabilizing behavior of markets, the risks in trading on occasion can affect market liquidity and heighten asset price volatility. This article examines empirical evidence on the limits of arbitrage in the interest...

Market participants and policymakers closely monitor movements in the yield curve for information about future economic fundamentals. In several recent episodes, however, disruptions to market liquidity have affected the short-term dynamics of the curve independently of fundamentals. This...

The institutional arrangements for trading and settling securities in Europe remain fragmented along national lines, making cross-border trading costly. Consolidation efforts are under way, however, and major market centers have now emerged in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Although...

This paper presents three proposals intended to enhance liquidity in the market for U.S. Treasury debt: making principal and interest STRIPS maturing on a common date fungible with each other, aligning the maturity of 2-year debt with either bill maturities or the maturities of longer-term debt,...