In Depth: Why China’s Bond Traders Got Cut Off From the Data They Needed

Chinese bond traders started their day like usual last Wednesday only to find that the terminals they counted on to deliver real-time bond prices had abruptly stopped working.

Of the four go-to platforms for price quotes, Qeubee, Wind, Dealing Matrix and iDeal, only iDeal was still providing bond prices. IDeal is operated by the central bank-affiliated China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS). The other three suspended the service, with Qeubee attributing its move to “force majeure,” referring to an event beyond its control.