décalage à la hausse de la fourchette

English translation: See answer

11:57 Apr 7, 2021
French to English translations [PRO]
Bus/Financial - Finance (general)
French term or phrase: décalage à la hausse de la fourchette
Investigation into possible market manipulation. Please see the previous question for the full context.

"Ce déséquilibre du côté acheteur du carnet introduit par AAA avait pour effet d'initier un décalage à la hausse de la fourchette «meilleure limite à l'achat/meilleure limite à la vente"

I'm trying to get my head around what they mean by this. Firstly, do we talk of "spread" between the "best buy limit" and the "best sell limit" (if these are the correct terms)? Or simply of "gap" or "range"?

Secondly, what might be meant by décalage à la hausse? Does this mean simply that this gap/range/spread widens? Or does it mean that it is pushed upwards, relative to what it was before? I.e. (possibly in addition to a widening of this gap) that the lower end of the gap is now higher than it previously was? Or is there no justification for such an "additional" characteristic? It's just that, to me, décalage is a suspiciously fancy and/or specific word to choose in this context.
Mpoma
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:11
English translation:See answer
Explanation:
OK, so having gone back and read the longer explanatory text in the previous question, I've changed my answer. I thought it was about widening the spread between the best limit buy and sell prices, because that seemed to make best sense in the given context.

However, in the previous question we have the following additional context:

"Réalisation de transactions en sens inverse du déséquilibre côté acheteur, c'est-à-dire une vente de contrats (symétriquement, lorsque AAA a introduit un déséquilibre côté vendeur, elle réalise des transactions à l'achat)
Soit, au cours de la phase de création d'un déséquilibre, AAA a saisi des ordres de vente passifs à des prix supérieurs à la meilleure limite à l'achat.
L'impulsion à la hausse exercée via les ordres leurres dont AAA était à l'initiative conduisait les autres acheteurs à revoir à la hausse leur limite de prix jusqu'à rencontrer l'ordre de vente passif placé par AAA.
Soit, AAA n'avait pas placé d'ordres de vente passif lors de la création du déséquilibre.
L'impulsion exercée par le déséquilibre conduisait les autres intervenants à surenchérir en plaçant des ordres d'achat à des limites plus élevées que celles des ordres leurres."

It would seem from this that the effect of AAA's actions was to pull up the best limit buy orders placed by other market participants, thus artificially driving up the price of the instrument. That would suggest this is about the bid/ask spread not widening but being pushed upwards en bloc.

For the whole sentence, then, this would give us something like:

"This imbalance on the buy side of the order book created by AAA had the effect of beginning to push the "best limit buy/best limit sell" range upwards."

Apologies for the change of answer; if I'd seen this additional context before, I wouldn't have posted my first answer.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 7 hrs (2021-04-07 19:34:00 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Note to asker: in response to your second comment, I used "range" rather than spread" simply because when you talk about a "spread", normally the focus is on the size of the spread, whereas in this case the that's not so much in focus (because the whole of the spread/range between the bid and ask prices is moving upwards). So I just felt using "range" instead of "spread" might be a good way to avoid putting the focus on the size of the spread.

(It's also worth noting that French analysts will most often use "écart" for "spread" (and occasionally "différentiel"); in my experience it's relatively rare [though perhaps not entirely unheard of] for them to use "fourchette" when referring specifically to a spread.)
Selected response from:

Rob Grayson
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:11
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +2See answer
Rob Grayson
4 -1a lagged widening of the spread between...
Francois Boye
3 -1lack of equilibrium gives rise to an increase between A and B, - pushes A and B further apart
Nikki Scott-Despaigne
2 -1an upward shift/movement in the xxxxxxxxxxxx spread
Conor McAuley


Discussion entries: 4





  

Answers


50 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 2/5Answerer confidence 2/5 peer agreement (net): -1
an upward shift/movement in the xxxxxxxxxxxx spread


Explanation:
xxxxxxxxxxxx = "meilleure limite à l'achat/meilleure limite à la vente"

Spread:

Bid vs Offer Price | Top 4 Differences (with Infographics)https://www.wallstreetmojo.com › bi...
Traduire cette page
Here we discuss the top differences between bid and offer price along with ... For liquid securities, the ***difference in Bid-Offer Price (spread)*** is narrow, whereas,

Plus tons of ghits.


Décalage: imagine a block of rock moving slightly. It is still the same width, length and height, it has just moved. This is the easiest way to explain "décalage". In English we don't quite have a matching word.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2021-04-07 14:11:14 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

To Mpoma: initially I was convinced by "rise", since "spread" conveys the meaning of a "block" or a "bracket" (in the sense of a range of prices or offers) anyway. BUT "upward shift", as you say, stays close to the French.
"Décalé", I would suggest, without looking up the full meaning of the word, means something, someone, that is unusually -- perhaps even improperly -- different to some kind of perceived norm -- think of eccentric, maverick, leftfield, etc.
Unfortunately there's no way to convey this in English. (That I know of.)

Conor McAuley
France
Local time: 22:11
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 127
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks. Normal words for *décalage* are "shift", "offset", "discrepancy". "Upward shift" has the virtue that it literally translates the French, possibly preserving the problem: why not (other than an ingrained reflex to complicate for the sake of it) just say "rise" (*hausse*)?


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Daryo: whatever "décalé" would mean in slang/argot, in basic maths it's simply a "translation" - here an upward movement of BOTH limits of this "spread of prices".
6 days
  -> Thanks Daryo, you've just described perfectly what a shift is in this context!
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2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): -1
déséquilibre initie un décalage à la hausse de la fourchette meilleure limite achat/vente
lack of equilibrium gives rise to an increase between A and B, - pushes A and B further apart


Explanation:
A "décalage" describes a gap, a difference, a relationship between at least two situations, two points. There is a notion of comparison, so "between" is useful.

I agree with Colin's understanding of the dynamic nature of what is going on.
A process is being set in motion (initier) and it is an increase (à la hausse). Cf. Colin's "upward shift/movement". The gap between A and B expands, increases.
A and B are simply two prongs on the fork!

- The imbalance/lack of balance causes the gap/the difference between A and B to increase.
- A and B are pushed further apart by the imbalance.

- the imbalance gives rise to an increase in the gap between A and B
- the lack of balance causes the


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2021-04-07 14:38:34 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Oopsie. I should have edited the last two elements out.

Nikki Scott-Despaigne
Local time: 22:11
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 162

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Daryo: no, here it's BOTH the upper and lower "limit prices" that get pushed up - these market manipulators are not making money from "widening the spread", but from artificially inflating prices, pushing the whole spread (both limits) up.
6 days
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5 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
See answer


Explanation:
OK, so having gone back and read the longer explanatory text in the previous question, I've changed my answer. I thought it was about widening the spread between the best limit buy and sell prices, because that seemed to make best sense in the given context.

However, in the previous question we have the following additional context:

"Réalisation de transactions en sens inverse du déséquilibre côté acheteur, c'est-à-dire une vente de contrats (symétriquement, lorsque AAA a introduit un déséquilibre côté vendeur, elle réalise des transactions à l'achat)
Soit, au cours de la phase de création d'un déséquilibre, AAA a saisi des ordres de vente passifs à des prix supérieurs à la meilleure limite à l'achat.
L'impulsion à la hausse exercée via les ordres leurres dont AAA était à l'initiative conduisait les autres acheteurs à revoir à la hausse leur limite de prix jusqu'à rencontrer l'ordre de vente passif placé par AAA.
Soit, AAA n'avait pas placé d'ordres de vente passif lors de la création du déséquilibre.
L'impulsion exercée par le déséquilibre conduisait les autres intervenants à surenchérir en plaçant des ordres d'achat à des limites plus élevées que celles des ordres leurres."

It would seem from this that the effect of AAA's actions was to pull up the best limit buy orders placed by other market participants, thus artificially driving up the price of the instrument. That would suggest this is about the bid/ask spread not widening but being pushed upwards en bloc.

For the whole sentence, then, this would give us something like:

"This imbalance on the buy side of the order book created by AAA had the effect of beginning to push the "best limit buy/best limit sell" range upwards."

Apologies for the change of answer; if I'd seen this additional context before, I wouldn't have posted my first answer.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 7 hrs (2021-04-07 19:34:00 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Note to asker: in response to your second comment, I used "range" rather than spread" simply because when you talk about a "spread", normally the focus is on the size of the spread, whereas in this case the that's not so much in focus (because the whole of the spread/range between the bid and ask prices is moving upwards). So I just felt using "range" instead of "spread" might be a good way to avoid putting the focus on the size of the spread.

(It's also worth noting that French analysts will most often use "écart" for "spread" (and occasionally "différentiel"); in my experience it's relatively rare [though perhaps not entirely unheard of] for them to use "fourchette" when referring specifically to a spread.)

Rob Grayson
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:11
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 805
Grading comment
Selected automatically based on peer agreement.
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks for taking the trouble to do this! Kind of justifies my sensing something funny or ambiguous about the expression. This is not my specialist area so the actual techniques alleged to be used weren't as clear as they obviously are to you (nor their implications for this expression's meaning).

Asker: PS I notice you've used "range" rather than "spread" in your suggested solution. Is this deliberate? I realise they mean the same in an absolute sense, but I initially had a bit a doubt whether the jargon word "spread" was actually used in relation to limits... prices, yes, clearly... but limits?


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Francois Boye: words have a meaning in all languages. Why do you skip the word 'décalage'?
1 hr
  -> Your comment is baffling, since I haven't "skipped" anything at all. In this context, a "décalage à la hausse" is no more or less than an upward shift.

agree  writeaway
16 hrs

agree  Daryo: it confirms what the meaning of term used would suggest: "décalage à la hausse / à la baisse" = the whole "fourchette" gets shifted upward / downward // the widening of "la fourchette" would have been "l'augmentation / l'élargissement de ..."
20 hrs
  -> Exactement

agree  Yvonne Gallagher: nice to see informed opinion
4 days
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3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -1
a lagged widening of the spread between...


Explanation:
Unlike the text written in French, bid-ask spread widens. That's how its increase is expressed in finance.

Bid-ask spreads can widen during times of heightened market risk or increased market volatility. If market makers are required to take extra steps to facilitate their trades during periods of volatility, spreads of the underlying securities may be wider, which will mean wider spreads on the ETF.

I could have used the term delayed instead of lagged. But lagged is the statistical concept used in finance.

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Note added at 7 hrs (2021-04-07 19:54:26 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Décalage

B.− Action de déplacer dans l'espace ou dans le temps; résultat de cette action. Décalage horaire; décalage vers l'avant. − C'est le voyage en avion qui m'a fatiguée, (...) et puis il y a ce décalage des heures (Beauvoir, Mandarins,1954, p. 549).

− Fig. Manque de concordance entre deux faits, deux choses. Le décalage entre nos théories et nos expériences (Perroux, L'Écon. XXes.,1964, p. 27).

Source: Le Dictionnaire TLFI

Francois Boye
United States
Local time: 16:11
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 305

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Nikki Scott-Despaigne: Thank you for the "bid-ask spread". "Widening of the spread" makes sense. This may become an "agree", but cld you explain why "delayed/lagged" here please? (Disc section?).
39 mins
  -> delayed/lagged means that AAA decision to buy and the widening spread do not take place at the same time.

disagree  Rob Grayson: Nothing to do with a lag/delay IMO. You do realise "décalage" doesn't have to refer to a *time* difference, right? (And that a time difference makes no sense in this context…)
1 hr

agree  Adrian MM.: time-lagged as in décalage meaning a timing difference on a/cs.
3 hrs
  -> Thanks!

disagree  Daryo: Action de déplacer dans l'espace ou dans le temps // I can't see why you would assume that in this ST it's about "shift / movement ..." on the time axis?
21 hrs
  -> Wrong! Décalage = Manque de concordance entre deux faits, deux choses. See my response to Nikki
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