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I am new to FIX protocol

I am not sure how exactly Tag54 (Buy/Sell) works

According to the API I am reading for making FX Single Order via FIX They say:

           Tag 55   Tag 54  Tag 15
Buy  EUR   EUR/USD   1       EUR
Sell USD   EUR/USD   1       USD  <-- Why is this a Sell?
Sell EUR   EUR/USD   2       EUR
Buy  USD   EUR/USD   2       USD  <-- Why is this a Buy?

reference : (Page 5) http://www.commanderfx.com/downloads/Commander_Rules_Of_Engagement_v1_5.pdf

I would have expected this:

           Tag 55   Tag 54  Tag 15
Buy  EUR   EUR/USD   1       EUR
Sell USD   EUR/USD   2       USD  <-- Tag 54 changed
Sell EUR   EUR/USD   2       EUR
Buy  USD   EUR/USD   1       USD  <-- Tag 54 Changed?
Grant Birchmeier
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Andre
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  • This isn't a Quickfix question, but a general FIX question that I think is specific to a single counterparty. I have removed the Quickfix tag. – Grant Birchmeier May 05 '15 at 15:13

2 Answers2

3

You overlooked this important point.

Please note that the Side (tag 54) always refers to the base currency

So it always points to what side you are on your base currency(sell/buy) and not on what currency you are buying or selling.

DumbCoder
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  • Exactly - and in the above examples the base currency is always EUR (Base being on the left of the "/".) what am I not getting :( – Andre May 05 '15 at 08:39
  • Yes that is correct. `Sell USD` means you `buy EUR` so it is a BUY order for base currency and vice versa. Take the currency pair in tandem and not in isolation. – DumbCoder May 05 '15 at 09:40
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The currency pair for each of these trades is EUR/USD so each of the buy or sell orders is relative to this (the rates are in market convention). The rate EUR/USD means how many USD I will get for each unit of EUR that I exchange, buying USD from EUR is termed as buying EUR/USD, selling USD to get EUR is selling the pair. Remember that buy or sell is relative to the pair in this way. In FX trader terms you don't buy or sell a currency you buy or sell the PAIR in MARKET CONVENTION. I hope that helps.

MD-Tech
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