MKI Financial Network Unveils IBM-PC Software For Foreign Exchange Traders

The first IBM-PC software package designed for foreign exchange traders has been released by the MKI Financial Network, Inc. unit of MKI Investments. In its real-time version, MKI's "Foreign Exchange Trade Evaluator" will also be the first third-party software to rely on data from Knight-Ridder's Moneycenter service.

While most large trading rooms have custom mainframe software to perform complicated forex calculations, FX Trade Evaluator is designed for the smaller rooms at local branches of overseas banks, says Paul Mahady, vice president at MKI. Traders at these sites still rely on pocket calculators to do most of their work.

The package comes in two forms -- one standalone and the other real-time. The standalone version, now in beta test, requires users to enter prices manually, while the real-time version, just being completed, will read prices from the Moneycenter quote stream. The real-time version will be unveiled at a forex trade show in New York on March 24th, says Mahady.

FX Trade Evaluator is the first third-party software "in which we're involved in a very tight joint arrangement," says Paul Cooper, president of Knight-Ridder Financial Information. While Moneycenter lacks the 1600 forex contributors of a Reuter Monitor, he says, it "counts about 15 major banks worldwide" as contributors and provides representative prices on the 10-12 key currencies.

The program allows traders to follow up to 48 currencies -- 38 "standard" and ten user-defined "wild-card" currencies. From these the user can select the ten Eurocurrencies and ten currency pairs he most often trades. Quick access to these is then available from any module in the program.

A calendar module provides three years' worth of forward run data, plus holiday and warning tables for each of the 38 countries. Default formats can be defined for dates, bid/offer vs. offer/bid order, and fraction or decimal outputs for Eurodeposits. Four user-selected time zones are always displayed across the top of the screen.

Analysis modules allow quick computations of cross spot, short, and forward rates, including outrights and broken dates. Other modules allow calculations and "what ifs" for forward arbitrage, per diem position costs, and futures arbitrage for exchange-listed currency contracts. The reciprocal of any currency pair can be calculated with a single keystroke.

The package also includes a comprehensive "EMS View" grid page showing ceiling, floor, and middle rates for all member countries in the European Monetary System. Color is used to indicate whether a rate is higher or lower than the middle rate, or outside the EMS intervention limit.

FX Trade Evaluator costs $15,000 to purchase or $700/month to lease. The optional Moneycenter "gateway" data feed is extra.