Explain to me like I am 5 - What does a Rates/FX Vol Desk do?
See the desk referenced all the time but don't have a great sense of what it does/which products/which groups they work with. What are the differences between this desk and an IR swap desk/FX options?
Analyst 2 in S&T - FI, sorry about the lack of response. Maybe one of these topics will help:
More suggestions...
If those topics were completely useless, don't blame me, blame my programmers...
Well options desk == vol desk. You are trading vol, your quotes are adjusted in terms of cheapness/richness to vol. Taking a view or not on vol. Obviously other Greeks and they are important and matter a lot. Swaptions are just the right/not obligation to enter into a swap. 1y3y swaption is a option contract that is 1y expiry that allows you to enter into a 3year swap. Generally the at the money rate = fixed rate of a swap. Mostly same mechanics as a equity options desk. There are caps and floors similar to calls and puts, you can strangle,straddle, do wedges etc. But then there are also treasury future options which are more classic CBOT (I think) traded.
Then there are mixes like cancellable swaps which a swap with an option to enter another swap (im pretty sure). You can have forward starting swaps as well. But swaps are thought of as Linear Derivatives products… but as you can see swaps and rate vol desk work close.
Pricing all depend on tenor, expiry, vol, underlying rate ( sofr, tsofr(shit), BSBY, nyfed), skew (or in general just demand causing prices to change).
I was just an intern who learned a bit, but my 2cents
Some corporate clients want swaps/swaption for asset/ liability matching. A lot of hedge funds do rv in swaps, can do curve trades(flat/steep) on swap curve. Corps issuing corp debt might enter cancellable swap to mitigate option exposure ( they issue bond and are long a call option, and now in the cancellable swap they are short a call option). HF’s also take view on vol or rv. There’s a lot and I don’t know much lol
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