Benchmark

A benchmark is a published reference price or rate that contracts settle against. Because a benchmark converts one number into payments across many contracts, moving it is unusually profitable relative to the effort required.

manipulation techniques · updated 2026-10-16

Where does benchmark come up?

This term is used in the following manipulation techniques, each explained in full on its own page.

• Benchmark submission rigging — Benchmark submission rigging is skewing the figures a panel member reports into a reference rate calculation, so that the published benchmark moves in favour of positions that settle against it.
• FX fixing — FX fixing manipulation is trading during the short window used to calculate a daily currency benchmark, using advance knowledge of client orders that must be executed at that fix.

Enforcement actions involving these techniques

See also

• Submission-based benchmark — A submission-based benchmark is calculated from figures that panel members report rather than from observed transactions. The desi…
• Fixing — A fixing is the determination of a benchmark price at a specific moment, usually by observing trading in a short window. Concentra…

Terms that refer here

Fixing · Foreign exchange market · LIBOR · Submission-based benchmark · Swap · Volume-weighted average price

Back to the full glossary — 282 defined terms.