British Pound - Euro, Exchange

[Khandro]

Just looking at the graph of the current exchange rates ;
http://www.x-rates.com/graph/?from=EUR&;to=GBP&amount=1
There seemed to be a huge momentary drop and then an instant bounce back on Friday. I haven't seen anything quite like that before, can anyone explain what that was about, please?

[jourdain2]

Can't answer that, Khandro - but money-people are incredibly nervy so that is probably it and it doesn't worry me. Remember about 8 or 9 years ago when the pound hit parity? I struggled to survive for a few months. It goes up - it goes down. Each variation means that someone benefits and someone else suffers.

[SIRandyraven]

I work in The FX markets (we average 375 billion a day through trading system).
A majority of trades are made via the FIX API (algorithmic trading computers) where a millisecond is like a year. The computer to see price and execute trade wins. It's a complex market driven by many factors.

[Khandro]

What I can't work out is that my UK state pension HAS to be transferred to my German bank account and so I am subject to the vagaries of the exchange rate (natch) but who actually makes that momentary calculation and on what basis? - I have the feeling that I am being constantly ripped-off, but that might just be paranoia.