Exchange Rate Fundamentals and Order Flow

69 Pages Posted: 27 Jun 2007 Last revised: 9 Dec 2022

See all articles by Martin D.D. Evans

Martin D.D. Evans

Georgetown University - Department of Economics

Richard K. Lyons

University of California, Berkeley; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Date Written: June 2007

Abstract

We address whether transaction flows in foreign exchange markets convey fundamental information. Our GE model includes fundamental information that first manifests at the micro level and is not symmetrically observed by all agents. This produces foreign exchange transactions that play a central role in information aggregation, providing testable links between transaction flows, exchange rates, and future fundamentals. We test these links using data on all end-user currency trades received at Citibank over 6.5 years, a sample sufficiently long to analyze real-time forecasts at the quarterly horizon. The predictions are borne out in four empirical findings that define this paper's main contribution: (1) transaction flows forecast future macro variables such as output growth, money growth, and inflation, (2) transaction flows forecast these macro variables significantly better than the exchange rate does, (3) transaction flows (proprietary) forecast future exchange rates, and (4) the forecasted part of fundamentals is better at explaining exchange rates than standard measured fundamentals.

Suggested Citation

Evans, Martin D.D. and Lyons, Richard K., Exchange Rate Fundamentals and Order Flow (June 2007). NBER Working Paper No. w13151, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=992154

Martin D.D. Evans (Contact Author)

Georgetown University - Department of Economics ( email )

Washington, DC 20057
United States
202-687-1570 (Phone)
202-687-6102 (Fax)

Richard K. Lyons

University of California, Berkeley ( email )

Haas School of Business
Berkeley, CA 94720
United States
510-642-1059 (Phone)
510-643-1420 (Fax)

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

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