Cross-Asset Trading: Ready for Prime Time

The credit crisis demonstrated the link between asset classes as volatility in structured finance spilled over into other products, and firms made a dash for quality. It confirmed, however, the value of many hedging or arbitrage strategies even under stress, but may have delayed some initiatives, as firms focused on putting out the fires. More generally, the crisis quite usefully focused traders on the importance of costs and centralized risk.

Meanwhile, the sell side is now rolling out common