Major vs Minor Currency over FIX

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Imported from previous forum

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[ original email was from Hugo Darley - hugo.darley@fidessa.com ]
Hi,

Just a quick question about major vs minor currency. I always understood that it should be major currency over FIX (even though the tag 15 codes exist for GBp, GBX etc etc).

Is this entirely open to interpretation/configuration between client and broker or is there actually a standard?

Many thanks
Hugo

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[ original email was from John Greenan - john.greenan@alignment-systems.com ]
Hi Hugo,

Generally UK prices are displayed in minor units, but sometimes systems are a bit dumb and don’t understand, so brokers have to send prices in major units. It’s certainly not a standard and is more a matter for RoE and discussion.

John

Hi,

Just a quick question about major vs minor currency. I always understood
that it should be major currency over FIX (even though the tag 15 codes
exist for GBp, GBX etc etc).

Is this entirely open to interpretation/configuration between client and
broker or is there actually a standard?

Many thanks Hugo

4

Generally UK prices are displayed in minor units, but sometimes systems
are a bit dumb and don’t understand, so brokers have to send prices in
major units. It’s certainly not a standard and is more a matter for RoE
and discussion.

Although, one could argue that some of those ‘dumb’ systems are adhering to the FIX spec (below cited from 4.2’s Appendix A):
Appendix A
Valid Currency Codes
Currency codes used in FIX are those defined in ISO 4217 standard. To obtain the current valid list please contact the ISO 4217 secretariat at +44-181-996-9000.
Note: Prices defined in FIX messages should be made consistent with the currency code used. In some markets, prices are quoted as multiples or fractions of the currency, FIX messages should normalize the amount to coincide with the indicated code (e.g. UK securities are quoted in pence but must be represented in FIX messages as pounds).

5

[ original email was from John Greenan - john.greenan@alignment-systems.com ]
Indeed one could argue that, but I was actually referring to a specific system that I have worked with in the past that did allow the user to see minor unit Sterling prices (in pence) in the front end but had no code to convert to major units for FIX messages and so used to send 120 as a limit price for one pound twenty pence yet use GBP as the currency code.

Also, I have have seen broker based systems that have a counterparty wide default to either *100, /100 or *1 when the left two characters of the currency code are GB.

Hence, my statement that this should be checked up in the RoE and by discussion.

Generally UK prices are displayed in minor units, but sometimes
systems are a bit dumb and don’t understand, so brokers have to send
prices in major units. It’s certainly not a standard and is more a
matter for RoE and discussion.

Although, one could argue that some of those ‘dumb’ systems are adhering
to the FIX spec (below cited from 4.2’s Appendix A): Appendix A Valid
Currency Codes Currency codes used in FIX are those defined in ISO 4217
standard. To obtain the current valid list please contact the ISO 4217
secretariat at +44-181-996-9000.
Note: Prices defined in FIX messages should be made consistent
with the currency code used. In some markets, prices are
quoted as multiples or fractions of the currency, FIX
messages should normalize the amount to coincide with the
indicated code (e.g. UK securities are quoted in pence but
must be represented in FIX messages as pounds).