Thus a spreadsheet gives us a very flexible way to see the data. For example, filtering on InterestRate:FRA in the taxonomy column shows you a price trend for three-month FRAs from 0.3042 to 0.2975. The Cumulative Slice window accesses very large files of all the transactions in the SDR for a particular product type.

While the data looks fairly accurate for swaps, it appears decidedly less so for options, unless I misunderstand the column headings. For example, the strike price and the option price (which I would take to be the premium) are listed as the same for all options, which I would not expect to be true. 

The next most interesting window is the ticker, which shows trade (and other transaction) reports as they come in. It is divided into four sub-windows, for credit swaps, credit options, rates swaps and rates options. The rates section looks like this:

Watching this window can become addictive, as you see transactions pop up on the screen. At the left of each entry is a link that takes you to the detail for each entry. But beware: Some of these entries are a bit perplexing.

As one swaps trader said to me, upon first seeing this data, “It’s definitely a whole new world!” Already traders and salespeople are trying to figure out who the parties are on many of the larger trades, but that may be a fruitless exercise. Of much more value may be the use of this data to spot trends and opportunities that were hidden before. Adaptation is the order of the day, as it really is a whole new world.