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Trauma of SNB Haunts Currency Traders Planning for Brexit Vote

  • Lessons learned include trading by phone if necessary
  • Retail brokers raise margin requirements, warn of losses
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What's Behind the Rally in Emerging Markets?

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Foreign-exchange traders, bracing for chaos on the night of Britain’s European Union referendum, are preparing to fall back on techniques perfected before the era of computerized transactions.

Banks are ready to draw on lessons learned after some electronic platforms failed during the storm of volatility that followed the Swiss National Bank’s shock decision to remove its currency cap last year. One key failsafe as the U.K. counts votes on whether to leave the EU: increased trading over the phone.