The Scale of Market Quakes (SMQ) objectively measures the impact of political and economic events on the currency markets and is a decision support tool for traders, retail and institutional investors, government officials and commentators. The development of the SMQ was inspired by the Richter Scale which measures the intensity of earthquakes. Financial markets are subject to seismic shocks caused by political, economic and other events. The SMQ, which is computed on a tick by tick basis, measures the price impact of these events. It provides a clear metric of the relevance of events and contributes to reducing uncertainty of decision makers. The SMQ service that has been developed for the currency markets is part of a large project to build a comprehensive global information system. Olsen invites companies, non-government and government organizations, universities and private individuals to participate. For more information on how to proceed, please contact us.

The SMQ is dedicated to Jørgen L. Olsen, the father of Richard Olsen who is the founder of Olsen Ltd. Jørgen was a physics professor at the ETH Zurich and worked at Olsen Ltd on a part time basis after his retirement. He made a feasibility study for a first version of the SMQ in 1996 which was instrumental for the subsquent development of the SMQ and led to its first publication.