It seems like I will be the first reviewer for this book, so I'll try to give some sort of general overview.
First let's talk about the worst parts, just to get them out of the way. The diagrams are all too small — ideally they should be full page, but alas they are about 30% of the size they should be. Reading the text on some diagrams is only possible with a smartphone.
Second point is repetition. Here is what we will tell you, here it is, this is what we just went over… simply not needed.
Some equations are not well formatted, but I'd assume the reader has met the topics before.
As an overview, the first 100 pages are actually on FX. The remainder of the book is TCA, VaR, ALM, but there is some NDF discussed again.
I would say the biggest issue people have with FX as a beginner is quote basis. So I'm going to give the book four stars as it is the foundation for everything else. Topics like USD/JPY quotes in Japan are not touched on. But the walkthrough is better than the CFA standard texts. Swaps I would think of as two forwards, rather than a spot and forward. There is also that rare three-currency FX swap.
I enjoyed reading about RFQ, RFS as well as the discussion on pair liquidity by venue. I leave the book wanting to read more about NDF wrong-way risk and carry trades. It seems the author is going to publish another book on basis trading, so it will make a nice complement.
↳ Response from the authors
Thank you for taking the time to review the book and for the constructive feedback.
On the diagrams — you are absolutely right. We identified the sizing issue after publication and have made all 33 diagrams available for download at full resolution on rondanini.com. We apologise for the inconvenience.
On the repetition — fair point, though we will own that one. We are old-style traders. We learned by having things drilled into us, and that probably shows in how we write. It is what it is.
On swaps as two forwards — not always. When the near leg settles on the spot date, it is a spot transaction, not a forward. The BIS Quarterly Review (September 2023) defines an FX swap as two parties exchanging currencies on the spot leg and agreeing to reverse the trade at a future date on the forward leg. The BIS Quarterly Review (September 2017) uses the same terminology: the exchange today is the spot leg, the commitment to exchange in the future is the forward leg. The two-forwards characterisation only holds for a forward-forward swap where both legs settle beyond spot. It is worth noting that the GFMA's Global FX Division, for MiFIR/MiFID II transaction-reporting purposes, represents an FX swap as a package of two forwards (an ISIN for each leg) — but that is a regulatory reporting convention, not the economic structure of the instrument. The book presents it as spot and forward deliberately.
We are taking all of this feedback on board. A second edition will be more thorough on regional quoting conventions and market microstructure, and we hope not to disappoint.
On the topics you mention wanting more of — NDF wrong-way risk, carry trades, and basis trading — Book 3 in the series, Cross-Currency Swaps & Basis Trading, is due in Q1 2027 and should scratch that itch.
Thank you again for the four stars and for being the first to review. It means a great deal.
— Luigi Pascal Rondanini & David Axtell
