CFD Archives - The Industry Spread

CMC Markets Appoints Ahmed Soliman to Manage Middle East Institutional Business

March 13, 2019 by Ricardo Esteves Leave a Comment Filed Under: Industry News Tagged: CFD, CMC Markets, derivatives, FX, FX proposition, Middle East, PrimeXM

CMC Markets Institutional has appointed Ahmed Soliman as Senior Relationship Manager to grow the firm’s Dubai presence after having worked with a number of institutional liquidity providers across the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East in recent years.

Responsible for both for new sales and ongoing relationship management in the region, Soliman will be liaising with entities including a range of Market Counterparties, Introducing Brokers and those Institutions who are direct consumers of CMC’s liquidity.

Richard Elston, Head of Institutional at CMC Markets, commented: “We are seeing a significant uptick in demand for our high quality, multi-asset liquidity and brokerage solutions. To help address what is a global need, we have made another regional appointment to provide the best possible service to local counterparties – an offering which will be supported by the existing teams in both Europe and Asia.

Ahmed Soliman

Ahmed Soliman joined the leading online financial trading company serving retail and institutional clients after nearly two years at PrimeXM as Technical Account Manager. PrimeXM has lost a number of executives to leading FX companies in the last few months, including Laurence Luo and Mike Dugdale. Soliman’s career within the FX industry also includes three years at InvestFX as a Business Analyst and Lead Developer based in Cyprus.

CMC Markets offers a multi-asset institutional solution that includes indices, commodities, treasuries and over 9,000 single stock CFDs. The UK-based liquidity and white label trading solutions provider has appointed Ross Newell as Business Development Manager, Institutional FX and CFD business, in January 2019.

In November 2018, the company adopted the order management system developed by Australian software company IRESS to form a key component of CMC’s new Prime Derivatives trading platform.

The new prime FX proposition was launched in May 2017 and was designed to fill the liquidity gap left by many traditional prime brokers, intent on scaling back their dealings with smaller banks and brokers. The service puts the dissemination of tier one liquidity first, ensuring access at scale on an ever-widening range of currency pairs and bullion types.

XTB Reports Solid Full Year Revenue Growth in FY 2018 with Highest Number of New Clients Added in Q4, 2108

March 12, 2019 by Karthik Subramanian Leave a Comment Filed Under: Industry News Tagged: Brokers, Capital Markets, CFD, financial services, HTML5, trading platform, X Open Hub, XT5, XTB

The Poland-based multi-asset brokerage house, X-Trade Broker (XTB) has published its last quarter (Q4) and full year financial results for the FY 2018. The company in 2018 achieved stronger revenue growth as-well-as the highest number of new clients added during the final quarter.

The full-year revenue for the company came in at PLN 288.3 million ($75 million), which is higher by 5 per cent compared to last year. The operating profits didn’t grow as compared to growth in revenue because of increased spending on marketing activities and salaries. The operating profit came in at PLN 115.5 million ($30 million). However, the net profits recorded an increase of 9 per cent year-on-year to reach PLN 124 million ($32 million).

XTB in its final quarter was able to add significant numbers of new clients with total 5,724 clients added during the quarter, with the total number of clients coming in at 20,672 at the end of the year. The increase in new client addition is a remarkable feat for the company as it has been a very difficult year for the industry, owing to a slew of regulatory challenges.

However, despite recording increased client addition, the number of active clients have been slowly grinding lower throughout the year, reaching 21,279 in Q4. The figure is somewhat 14 per cent higher compared to the final quarter of 2017, placing the company in a very strong position for the year forward.

Despite an increase in the addition of new clients, the total deposits with the brokerage declined by 7 per cent throughout the year. Trading volume too followed the downward trajectory with 5 per cent decline year-on-year. Profitability per lot also hit a multi-year low in Q4 to 3PLN ($24) per lot, which is 32 per cent lower compared to the third quarter of 2018.

The brokerage shift of focus towards retail business has taken a negative toll on the performance of the institutional segment. The company’s institutional brand, X Open Hub revenues halved to about PLN 18.8 million ($5 million). In October last year, the company has launched a new platform for the X Open Hub called XT5, which is built using HTML5 technology.

In terms of revenue share, a major part is denoted by index CFDs at 49.6 per cent, followed by currency CFDs at 23.5 per cent and commodities CFD denoted at 24.3 per cent revenue. XTB’s growing presence in Latin America helped it to offset the declining trading revenues from the Western European region. The company’s Central and Eastern European segment showed a positive turn, despite a decline in the domestic market.

Rakuten Australia Announces oneZero as Distribution Partner for CFD Indices

March 1, 2019 by Ricardo Esteves Leave a Comment Filed Under: Industry News Tagged: CFD, CFD Indices, oneZero Financial Systems, Rakuten

Institutional and retail FX liquidity and technology solutions provider oneZero Financial Systems will be providing CFD indices through MetaTrader 4 to Rakuten Securities Australia’s customers.

The subsidiary of Japan-based online brokerage Rakuten Securities will gain access to the oneZero’s Liquidity Hub, which streams directly into the most popular front-end trading platforms and via API into custom-built front-ends. The hub enables brokers, prime of primes, and banks to centrally manage their risk and exposure while allowing them to build customized liquidity pools for foreign exchange, commodities, cryptocurrency, equities and futures markets.

Hiroaki Nagakura, Executive Officer FX Division Foreign Exchange Business Unit of Rakuten Securities, Inc., commented: “We are pleased to have oneZero as a distribution partner for CFD indices given their excellent relationships with major financial institutions and their reputation for stable connectivity and solid software implementation within Japan and abroad.”

Rakuten Securities Australia is using MetaTrader 4 as a White Label of Rakuten Securities, Inc.

Andrew Ralich

Andrew Ralich, Chief Executive Officer of oneZero Financial Systems, said: “We are excited to have Rakuten Securities, Inc. connected with our EcoSystem of top-tier liquidity providers. Our institutional clients will benefit from this partnership by accessing CFD indices through a major international broker.”

In 2019, oneZero celebrates its 10th birthday. In the first four years of service, oneZero had 50 customers. It took only one year to double that figure, by 2015. The company continued to expand its solutions, including the Aggregation Engine, B2B Margin Hub, Liquidity Hub, and Full-Scale Matching Engine. By the end of 2018, the firm was serving 200 clients.

The oneZero Ecosystem includes leading names within the trading industry such as GMI UK, Alpha Capital Markets, AxiCorp, Broctagon Prime, CFH, CMC Markets, Go Markets, Invast Australia, IS Prime, JFD Prime, LMAX Exchange, Pepperstone, Sucden Financial, Swissquote, Tickmill, and TopFX.

In mid-2018, the company appointed Phil Weisberg, former Chief Executive Officer at FxAll as a strategic advisor. oneZero looks to benefit from his unique market insights as they leverage the core technology to support institutional market participants.

European Regulator ESMA Extends Ban on Binary Option for another Three Months Period

February 19, 2019 by Karthik Subramanian Leave a Comment Filed Under: Industry News Tagged: binary options, brokerage, Brokers, CFD, ESMA, ESMA regulations, financial services, FX trading, investment, trading platform

This is the third extension of the ban on marketing, selling and distribution of binary options to retail clients in the European Union

The European regulator, European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has once again extended the ban on binary options for another three months. The move is not likely to surprise many industry participants, and with this, it marks the third extension which was implemented way back in July 2018.

This time, the third extension of the ban will start from the 2nd April 2019 and will remain until 2nd July 2019. However, it is likely that the ban on binary options is likely to continue much beyond the end of the third extension. The ban prohibits marketing, selling, and distribution of binary options to retail clients of the European Union. The reason for the extension of the ban is the same as it was given previously.

“ESMA has carefully considered the need to extend the intervention measure currently in effect. It considers that a significant investor protection concern related to the offer of binary options to retail clients continues to exist.”

According to ESMA, the decision to extend the ban was reached after the meeting of its Board of Supervisors, which was held on 14th February 2019. Next steps which were also discussed as per the update given in the ESMA website:

ESMA intends to adopt the renewal measure in the official languages of the EU in the coming weeks, following which ESMA will publish an official notice on its website. The measure will then be published in the Official Journal of the EU and will start to apply from 2 April 2019 for a period of three months.

It is more likely that ESMA will continue to renew its prohibition on binary options and CFDs until it comes out with a permanent policy in place. Until then, it is more likely that the prohibition will continue indefinitely.

JB Prime Integrates CQG’s Multi-Asset Platform

February 14, 2019 by Ricardo Esteves Leave a Comment Filed Under: Industry News Tagged: APAC, CFD, commodities, CQG, Eventus, FCM, FX, Gain Capital, JB Prime

Customers of Australian financial services company JB Prime have gained access to CQG’s multi-asset offering, including global equities, contracts for difference (CFDs), Foreign Exchange (FX), and Commodities with a new partnership between both firms.

CQG‘s high-performance solutions for trading will be available to JB Prime, which offers full-service brokerage, managed discretionary accounts and self-directed trading opportunities to institutional and individual clients across Australia, the UK, and Asia.

Leighton Andrew

Leighton Andrew, Managing Director of APAC at CQG, commented: “It’s an important milestone for CQG to deliver a high-end, multi-asset offering, providing a seamless experience for global customers trading a diverse portfolio from a single account. The partnership with JB Prime gives customers new and broader trading opportunities.”

Daren Markisic

Daren Markisic, Chief Executive Officer at JB Prime, said: “A professional multi-asset platform is what the marketplace has been demanding for over a decade. CQG offers, in addition to a robust front-end platform, market analysis and news, charting and order management across the futures and options space, on a global basis. Now, together with the technology developed by JB Prime, traders have access to trade Futures, Options, FX, CFDs and Equities globally, and all from the one account. That technology offering – coupled together with our 24-hour full-service operation which offers training and support, research and reports, as well as professional order management – places JB Prime as a premier broker to fill the needs of all traders across various asset classes.”

CQG is a leading global provider of high-performance solutions for trading, market data, technical analysis, and risk and account management. The firm has recently added Eventus’ market surveillance tools to its suite of add-ons. The move allowed futures commission merchant (FCM) partners, like GAIN Capital, to increase their risk management and surveillance capabilities on CQG.

In April 2018, CQG started to offer Quantitative Brokers’ suite of premium execution algorithms on the CQG’s platform, giving customers access to sophisticated trading strategies without the need for custom development.

CMC Markets Appoints Industry Veteran to Head Institutional Offering for Hedge Funds

February 13, 2019 by Ricardo Esteves Leave a Comment Filed Under: Industry News Tagged: AETOS, CFD, CMC Markets, derivatives, hedge fund, The Capital Group

CMC Markets Institutional has appointed Malcolm Ford, an equity and derivative brokerage specialist with thirty years of market experience, to address the hedge fund industry.

Based in London, Ford will be responsible for promoting the multi-asset liquidity offering to a wider range of hedge funds and smaller institutions. This institutional market segment has been finding it increasingly challenging to access flow from traditional prime broker relationships.

As a leading provider of liquidity and white label trading solutions, CMC Markets aims to provide an even more comprehensive service and growth to the hedge fund industry in order to address their particular needs. In his new role of Head of Equity Platform Sales, Malcolm Ford will spearhead those efforts.

Malcolm Ford

Ford has worked with both the buy and sell side over the last thirty years with clients across Europe, Asia, South Africa, and the United States. Having worked for leading industry names such as Crédit Agricole Cheuvreux, Morgan Stanley and Linear Investments throughout his career, Ford has assisted a series of Fintech start-ups most recently, through Jon Carp’s Finceler8 Limited.

Other recent roles include Executive Director at Morgan Stanley Electronic Trading, Director at Knight Capital Group, Head of Strategic Broker-Dealer Sales at Instinet Europe Limited, Strategic Business Development at Linear Investments, Sales and Capital Introductions at MONSAS, Co-Founder at The Broker Club, and Director at Fncrowd.

Richard Elston, Group Head of Institutional at CMC Markets

Richard Elston, Head of Institutional at CMC Markets, commented: “The hedge fund industry is evolving quickly. Growth is being seen amongst the smaller, agile funds, but many are struggling to find high quality liquidity through traditional channels. Our multi-asset institutional proposition, including access to over 9,000 single stock CFDs, has never been more relevant to this sector, providing both market depth and keen pricing in an underserviced market.”

CMC Markets has doubled down its efforts to expand its institutional offering across the globe. Earlier this year, the company hired ex-AETOS Capital Group Ross Newell as Business Development Manager of the Institutional FX and CFD business. It has been making headway in the institutional world in the past 12 months. Last September, the firm launched single stock CFD trading for its professional and institutional clients.

In November 2018, the firm expanded the already comprehensive multi-asset institutional offering to include access to almost 9,000 single stock CFDs through CMC Markets Prime Derivativesby adopting the order management system developed by Australian software company IRESS.

GMI UK Enters oneZero’s Liquidity Network for FX, CFD and Crypto

February 2, 2019 by Ricardo Esteves Leave a Comment Filed Under: Company News, Industry News Tagged: Andrew Ralich, CFD, cryptocurrency liquidity, EcoSystem, FX, FX liquidity, FX trading company, Global Markets Index, GMI UK, institutional broker, liquidity provider, OneZero, oneZero Financial Systems

oneZero Financial Systems has partnered with Global Market Index (GMI UK) to help the FX trading company distribute FX, CFD and cryptocurrency liquidity to oneZero’s network of over 200 makers and takers, oneZero’s EcoSystem.

Andrew Ralich, Chief Executive Officer of oneZero Financial Systems, commented:

“The addition of GMI UK to oneZero’s EcoSystem expands our global institutional client base. We are happy to integrate their API into our distribution network, so EcoSystem takers can have access to a new source for FX, CFD and cryptocurrency trading.”

Andrew Ralich, CEO of oneZero Financial Systems

The UK FCA regulated institutional broker has been awarded with a wide range of honors among its trading industry peers, including best IB support broker, liquidity provider, trading environment, trading platform, introducing broker service plan, forex broker, fastest growing broker, white label service provider, and EA trading platform.

Chis Hossain, Global Head of Institutional Sales – eFX & CFDs at Global Market Index, said: “We are excited to distribute liquidity to oneZero’s large network of retail brokers, asset managers and hedge funds as an EcoSystem partner.”

In late December 2018, Global Markets Index Ltd (GMI UK) p artnered with Gold-i to make its multi-asset liquidity accessible to Gold-i’s global client base. The GMI brand was established in 2009 as a provider of highly customised and sophisticated technology and liquidity solutions for institutional clients such as banks, hedge funds, family offices, brokers and high net-worth professional clients.

oneZero, a global leader in innovative institutional and retail FX liquidity and technology solutions, has been announcing new additions to its Ecosystem with great frequency. In 2018, CFH Clearing joined the hub to offer local liquidity from New York (NY4) to brokers and banks.

The oneZero Ecoystem has a number of high profile partners including Alpha Capital Markets, AxiCorp, Broctagon Prime, CFH, CMC Markets, Go Markets, Invast Australia, IS Prime, JFD Prime, LMAX Exchange, Pepperstone, Sucden Financial, Swissquote, Tickmill, and TopFX.

CFH Clearing is part of Playtech’s financial division, TradeTech Group, ever since the $120 million acquisition in 2016. The firm claims to have more than 600 institutional clients in more than 80 countries.

CMC Markets Institutional Secures Ross Newell as Business Development Manager

January 23, 2019 by Ricardo Esteves Leave a Comment Filed Under: Industry News Tagged: AETOS, API, CFD, CMC Markets Institutional, Richard Elston, Ross Newell

CMC Markets Institutional, the UK-based liquidity and white label trading solutions provider, has appointed Ross Newell as Business Development Manager, Institutional FX and CFD business.

Joining the company’s London office, Newell will put his almost 15 years of experience to use by working closely with institutional clients across Europe, ensuring that they receive tailored liquidity solutions and are also fully aware of the benefits of CMC Markets’ institutional-level online trading technology.

A well-known figure throughout the European institutional foreign exchange and CFD market, Ross Newell joined CMC Markets from AETOS Capital Group, where he led AETOS Direct, the institutional arm of AETOS Capital Group with a product offering aimed at retail, professional, brokerage and banking clients.

Prior to AETOS, Newell’s career was mostly spent at the institutional FX and CFD side of the industry. His 15-year career includes roles at FIXI plc, Axicorp, GFT Global Markets, and Cantors Fitzgerald Europe. At AxiCorp, he was one of the founding members of the London office and brought on their first set of institutional clients. There, he was responsible to streamline AxiCorp’s successful white labelling and support process. He also wrote and helped develop the company’s prime offering. At GFT, Newell won a number of large vendors and built up professional and personal relationships with many industry professionals in key and influential roles.

At CMC Markets Institutional, Newell will be responsible to promote the comprehensive suite of multi-asset liquidity services based around an Application Program Interface (API), designed to meet the demand from broker aggregators, banks, proprietary trading firms, and the hedge fund market. Additionally, he will deliver the company’s white label market counterparty solution for larger banks and regulated financial institutions, and the grey label for mid-to-small sized brokers.

Richard Elston, Group Head of Institutional at CMC Markets

Richard Elston, Head of Institutional at CMC Markets, commented: “Ross joins the London office at an exciting time for the business. With our market-leading multi-asset offering, CMC Markets is seeing increased demand from those institutions looking for a single counterparty to meet all their trading needs. We look forward to working with Ross as he helps us continue to grow our presence in this field.”

The comprehensive multi-asset institutional offering at CMC Markets has been recently expanded to include access to almost 9,000 single stock CFDs through CMC Markets Prime Derivatives.

Moscow Exchange (MOEX) Reports Steady Trade Volumes for December 2018

January 11, 2019 by Karthik Subramanian Leave a Comment Filed Under: Industry News Tagged: APEX, Brokers, Capital Markets, CFD, CFD and FX Broker, derivatives, DGCX, economy, foreign exchange, FX trading, FXCM, Gaitame, MOEX, trading platform

The total trading volume at Moscow Exchange (MOEX) in December 2018 has increased by 1.5% to RUB 72.5 trillion in December 2018, and for the full year 2018, it came in at RUB 861.1 trillion. During the year, trading volumes on the Equity Market grew by almost 18 per cent, 13.8 per cent in Bond Market, Derivatives Market by 5.6 per cent, FX Market by 10.6 per cent in spot and commodity market witnessed a growth of 19.3 per cent in volumes.

In the month if December 2018, the total trading volumes on the Equity and Bond Market came in at 2,306.9 billion compared to RUB 2,918.6 billion in December 2017.

For the Derivatives Market, total trading volume in December 2018 increased by 36.3 per cent to RUB 8.2 trillion from RUB 6.0 trillion in December 2017.

For the FX Market, turnover decreased to RUB 26.5 trillion from RUB 29.8 trillion in December 2017. The spot trade increased by 12.8 per cent o RUB 6.7 trillion and swap trades and forwards totalling RUB 19.8 trillion during the month.

Money Market, the total turnover during the month is RUB 30.3 trillion, which is 7.6 per cent higher compared to RUB 28.2 trillion in December 2017. And, in the commodity segment, total turnover increased by 62.8 per cent to RUB 15.0 billion.

Japanese FX Broker, Gaitame Records Weak Volumes in December 2018

Gaitame, the Japanese FX broking giant has also released it December 2017 operation metrics, recording a month-on-month fall in transactional volume despite growth in client account numbers.

The transactional volume in the month of December 2018 came in at ¥167.1 billion, which is 1.2 per cent lower compared to the previous month. But, when compared against the December 2017, it has registered a modest increase of around 33 per cent.

The total deposits with the broker totalled ¥116.2 billion, a slight 0.47 per cent increase from ¥115.6 billion in November. Total client account number came in at 476,747, a slight increase of 0.4 per cent, from the previous month and a 6.4 per cent increase on a yearly basis.

FXCM Releases Execution Data for December 2018

Retail FX and CFD broker, FXCM has released its December 2018 execution data, reporting steady volumes during the month. The highlights of all the instruments during the month are:

61.2 per cent of the total trades were executed without any slippage
27.3 per cent of the order executed with positive slippage
11.5 per cent of the order executed with negative slippage
And, average execution speed during the month was 17 milliseconds.

During the month, FXCM has teamed up with DGCX Exchange, and APEX Exchange and has added three new CFD products including Commodity CFDs and Index CFD US2000, and closed the month with positive volumes.

Brendan Callan, CEO of FXCM Group commented:

“2018 was another eventful year in the FX and CFD markets, and I’m sure 2019 will be no different. Here at FXCM we launched our HTML 5 web platform, expanded our Algo trading offering and focused a great deal on execution quality and bringing down our spreads to be extremely competitive. In 2019 we are looking to take some big steps forward in improving the overall customer experience as we truly take your feedback and request into account.”

Trade.io’s FX Trading Arm, TIO Markets Partners with IS Risk Analytics for FX/CFD Solutions

January 9, 2019 by Karthik Subramanian Leave a Comment Filed Under: Industry News Tagged: brokerage, Brokers, Capital Markets, CFD, CFD and FX Broker, derivatives, financial services, Forex, FX trading, Primus Capital Markets UK, risk management, TIO Markets, trade.io

TIO Markets will get ISRA’s hosting, proprietary bridge and risk management services.

TIO Markets, the FX and CFD trading arm of crypto firm trade.io has announced teaming with IS Risk Analytics (ISRA). IS Risk Analytics is a part of ISAM Capital Markets Group and both together will offer FX & CFD solutions.

TIO Markets has selected ISRA for its NY4/LD4 hosting, proprietary bridge and risk management services. TIO’s other subsidiaries in the St. Vincent and the Grenadines will also use the ISRA’s services.

IS Risk Analytics (ISRA) offers risk management solutions, hosting technology and institutional bridging services to FX brokers and specialises in revenue maximisation solutions. The newly forged partnership with TIO Markets will focus on broad account management, enhanced trade execution and settlement.

Commenting on the partnership with TIO Markets, Jeff Wilkins, Managing Director, IS Risk Analytics said:

“We are excited to be working with TIO Markets. TIO has been an early adopter in the blockchain space and is a dynamic, next-generation firm. We are looking forward to playing a major role in helping them to achieve their global growth ambitions.”

Mike Sideras, Director, TIO Markets also commented:

“We selected IS Risk Analytics because of their technology and their reputation in the FX market. We owe it to our clients to put them in the best position possible to make efficient trading decisions, and we feel that a relationship with ISRA provides this. Additionally, ISRA provides TIO Markets with a high degree of flexibility in its offering, which we can then pass on to our clients.”

TIO Markets was earlier known as Primus Capital Markets UK which got re-branded after trade.io acquired the firm and became part of the larger group that includes a St. Vincent and Grenadines subsidiary. The firm is currently on-boarding clients through its offshore subsidiary. Trade.io officially launched its FX trading platform via TIO Markets at the end of 2018. Trade.io expects to get FCA license in the first quarter of 2019.