The Foundation for Enduring Derivative Markets: Liquidity, Transparency, and Capacity

Abstract

Asked to comment on the lessons we have, or should have, learned from our recent experience with derivatives markets, Hill remarks that liquidity, transparency, and capacity (i.e., market depth) have always been important determinants of market performance in the short run and of overall market success in the long run, and they are still critical factors today. The biggest events affecting derivatives markets in the past 25 years have been instructive in this regard, including the stock market crash of 1987, Russian debt and LTCM crises in the 1990s, and bursting of the technology and housing bubbles in the 2000s.