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Global Liquidity

The Fed’s balance sheet is not market liquidity, even though the two are often treated as one. The liquidity that carries asset prices also depends on the Treasury General Account, reverse repo and bank reserves; it tracks equities in levels but barely in weekly changes. The Fed balance sheet since 2002, net liquidity since 2003, M2-to-GDP since 1959 and ECB datasets help separate the real effect from the narrative.

34pieces
12in-depth analyses
13datasets
2quick reads

Where to start

Three reads, in order: the basics, the full mechanism, then what the data says.

01The basics WALCL-to-GDP: The Fed’s Balance Sheet Is Now the Smallest of the Big Four Measured against GDP, the Fed's balance sheet stood at 20.7% in the second quarter of 2026, against 28.7% for the Bank of England, 38.2% for the ECB and 92.8% for the BoJ. AnalysisRead → 02The full mechanism WALCL: Fed Balance Sheet, Monetary Signal and Systemic Liquidity Indicator WALCL (FRED) measures the Fed's total balance sheet. In-depth analysisRead → 03The evidence The Liquidity Illusion: Why the Fed’s Balance Sheet Is Not the Market’s Liquidity, and What Actually Is The Fed drained $2.14T via QT. The ON RRP returned $2.37T. StudyRead →

Research and data

Our in-depth research and the downloadable series on the subject.

Dataset Euro Area Macro Data: ECB Datasets (Interest Rates, Inflation, Liquidity) Access 25 ECB macroeconomic datasets: interest rates, inflation (HICP), liquidity, credit, and real economy data. See the data → Dataset $6,748,145MLatest value · November 2026 WALCL: Federal Reserve Total Assets Weekly Balance Sheet Data Since 2002 (FRED) See the data → StudyHow to Choose an ETF: The 2026 Framework (Index, Costs, Liquidity, Taxes) StudyM2 and US Inflation, 1960–2026: A Three-Regime Empirical Test of the Monetarist Lag At the conventionally cited 15-month lag, M2 growth explains 4% of US inflation variance during the monetarist era and 7% from 1990 to 2019.

All analyses, by angle

Grouped by sub-topic rather than by date. Filter to get straight to the point.

Liquidity and Financial Conditions6

The sub-pillar →

Inflation Explained3

The sub-pillar →

Other angles16

Quick reads

Comparisons and common misconceptions: the essentials in a few minutes.

ComparisonREITs vs physical real estate: liquidity vs control ComparisonQE vs rate cuts: two different easing tools

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This topic also exists in French.Liquidité globale, 18 pieces →