Why do forward markets have poor liquidity?
One basic problem of forward markets is that of too much flexibility and generality. The forward market is like the real estate market in that any two consenting adults can form custom-designed contracts against each other. This often makes them design terms of the deal which are very convenient in that specific situation; this can make the contracts non-tradeable since others might not find those specific terms useful. In addition, forward markets are like the real estate market in that buyers and sellers find each other using telephones. This is inefficient and time-consuming. Every user faces the risk of not trading at the best price available in the country. Forward markets often turn into small clubs of dealers who earn elevated intermediation fees. This elevates the fees paid by users, i.e. it makes the forward market illiquid from the user perspective.
