Swap-bot seems like the real killer here. Making it easy and automatic to jettison a high-rate swap just as soon as a lower offer comes along seems like a recipe for a race to the bottom, as well as making it difficult for manually set offers to compete with automated offers if it reduces the average duration of a swap.
Maybe I've just gotten too used to being a well-fed parasite, but it seems like the possibility of making good returns partly relies on those traders who don't care to manually manage their swaps in search of the best rate, and leave swaps open for days at a time at a slightly elevated rate. If every swap only lasts as long as it takes for a lower offer to appear... I fear I'm just going to see all my cash sat idle more often than not[/li][/list]
Maybe I've just gotten too used to being a well-fed parasite, but it seems like the possibility of making good returns partly relies on those traders who don't care to manually manage their swaps in search of the best rate, and leave swaps open for days at a time at a slightly elevated rate. If every swap only lasts as long as it takes for a lower offer to appear... I fear I'm just going to see all my cash sat idle more often than not[/li][/list]
Yes, that's the big question indeed.
Honestly, as a borrower, I don't feel too excited about this. This sounds more like "bots automatically snatch away all good swap offers I normally would take manually". ;-)
The truth probably lays in the middle, where the market becomes more mature and efficient, and both sides use bots. So maybe there will be a more stable middle, where all demands meet, without crazy swings in the rates (which noone likes?), and everybody is happy? That's the theory of all those anarchists and free-market-fans, right? :-P
Ente
