What is the roll, the new city bike | In …

Exchange control has triggered in recent days a new investment in the very short term. In the city, they call it the loop. In a few minutes, leave about 5% in dollars and you can invest up to $ 10,000 a month. Some buying agencies reported that this week, the number of new customers (daily account openings) had increased eightfold. Investors buy a dollar bond that they sell in pesos at the Australian dollar price and then buy the currency at the official price to make the difference.

The gymnastics retail savers to earn an extra with the roll recalls the fascination of small investors with the Lebac of the Central Bank in the early months of 2016 (at that time there was also a significant opening of accounts receivable to take advantage of higher rates than the fixed term).

The operation is possible because the price of 56 pesos of the wholesale exchange rate has ceased to be the only reference for investors. A week after the exchange control, there are three other courses for the currency. The first is the parallel dollar traded at 59 pesos. The other 2 courses are the result of stock market transactions and have a deviation from the official dollar of less than or equal to 8 pesos (15%).

The Australian dollar is the implicit exchange rate that an investor gets to buy a bond in pesos and sell it in dollars. This Monday was 62 pesos. Cash settlement is the implicit listing of the purchase of an badet on the local market and its sale on the US stock market. This type of change closed at 64 pesos after rising to 67 pesos during the first hours of operation.

The difference between the price of the official dollar and that of the other reference prices is often called the exchange rate gap in economists' jargon. This is one of the main variables to be observed in the coming months. The gap is widening as investors accelerate the withdrawal of their badets from the domestic market.

Central Bank technicians are closely monitoring the rise in liquidity with liquidation. The operation could be subject to regulations if the gap continues to widen. At present, banks are not the only ones able to trade currencies with the purchase of a bond or an action.

In the case of the Canadian dollar, the authorities also have instruments to discourage this operation. From a local stock exchange, they told this newspaper that one of the simplest ways is to limit the duration of liquidation of badets. At present, it is allowed to buy and sell bonds immediately. Until 2015, a minimum period of 48 hours was required to reduce the incentive to buy currencies in the stock market.

Controls for the purchase of foreign currencies were applied less than 10 days ago and, for the moment, their consequences are unclear. They will depend on other variables such as what happens with the import regulations. This is what the owner of a financial company with decades of experience in the foreign exchange market told this newspaper. This is neither the first nor the last time that regulations will be applied and one of the interesting points is to see the speed of adaptation of investors.