The year of 2018 announced the era when DDoS attacks exceeded 1 terabyte on an individual attack basis. The definition of a “DDoS” (Distributed Denial-of Service) attack is “a malicious attempt to disrupt normal traffic of a targeted server, service or network by overwhelming the target with a flood of internet traffic”. The most famous instance was the attack on GitHub that caused downtime of 15-20 minutes^[1]. Two days later, NETSCOUT Arbor confirmed a 1.7 Tbps DDoS attack but this one managed to fly under the radar as there were no reported service disruptions.

Topics: Traders, Industry Trends, FX Liquidity, Forex Brokerage, Start Your Own Forex Brokerage, SYOB, Forex B2B, Regulation, MiFID, MiFID2, Wholesale FX, FX Liquidity Provider, Retail Trader, Retail Broker, Institutional Trader, Institutional Broker, System Uptime

Advanced Markets is a company focused on bringing true Direct Market Access (DMA) liquidity, credit and technology solutions to the foreign exchange, energy, precious metals and CFD markets. Our firm has put together an international team of FX experts who are located all over the world. Our marketing team asked key members of this team to tell us a little more about their individual roles and responsibilities, the clients that the firm is servicing and their thoughts on how Advanced Markets is adapting to the fast changing FX landscape.

Topics: Traders, FX Liquidity, Platforms & Technology, Company, Thought Leadership, Forex Brokerage, Start Your Own Forex Brokerage, Brokerage, SYOB, FX Broker Startup, Forex Marketing, Wholesale FX, FX Technology Provider, FX Liquidity Provider, Institutional Trader, Institutional Broker

With high frequency trading estimated to account for more than 50% of the trading volume in the U.S. and more than 25% in Europe, the number of available price updates (ticks) per second has become an important criteria for FX Brokers, HFTs and Fund Managers when choosing a liquidity provider.^[1]

Topics: Traders, Platforms & Technology, Forex Brokerage, Start Your Own Forex Brokerage, Algo Trading, MT5, MT4, MetaTrader, Wholesale FX, FX Technology Provider, FX Liquidity Provider, Institutional Trader, Institutional Broker

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has implemented a range of measures intended to protect retail clients who are trading leveraged products, such as CFD’s.
The product intervention measures mandated by ESMA, under Article 40 of the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFID II) include:

1. Maximum leverage limits on the opening of a position by a retail client ranging from 30:1 down to 2:1.
2. A margin closeout rule on a “per account” basis (at 50% of minimum required margin).
3. Negative balance protection on a “per account” basis.
4. A restriction on the incentives offered to trade CFDs. 
5. A standardised risk warning, including the percentage of losses on a CFD provider’s retail investor book.
6. Prohibition on the marketing, distribution or sale of binary options.

Topics: Traders, FX Liquidity, Forex Brokerage, Start Your Own Forex Brokerage, SYOB, FX Broker Startup, Forex B2B, MiFID2, Wholesale FX, FX Liquidity Provider, Retail Trader, Retail Broker, Institutional Trader, Institutional Broker

Our marketing team gets countless emails from retail traders requesting demo versions of our FIX API.
Advanced Markets does not work directly with retail traders (the firm only deals with institutional clients), however, upon researching these requests further I came to the realization that this particular topic is not covered very well online.

Let’s say we have a retail trader, interested in trading via a FIX API, and who is looking for the broker that will be able to provide one.

Topics: FX Technology Provider, FX Liquidity Provider, FIX API

While some industry sources are arguing whether or not MiFID II will dramatically affect the FX industry, most FCA and CySEC licensed FX brokers are rapidly adjusting policies in order to comply with the new requirements. 

One of the key changes of MiFID II is an implementation of the term “best execution” and a directive to ensure “All Sufficient steps” (Article 64 -4) are in place to support that.

Topics: FX Liquidity, Forex Brokerage, Start Your Own Forex Brokerage, Brokerage, SYOB, Licensing, Regulation, MiFID2, FX Liquidity Provider, Institutional Trader, Institutional Broker

Yesterday, I got an email from one of my old contacts thanking me for persuading him not to go into the retail FX brokerage business last year. The email was sent from the corporate domain of his new business venture, one that is apparently doing well with only a 30% involvement with the FX industry.

His experience has inspired me to write a short article that can serve as a wake-up call to anyone contemplating starting their own FX Brokerage.

Topics: Forex Brokerage, Start Your Own Forex Brokerage, Brokerage, SYOB, FX Broker Startup, Forex B2B, Forex Marketing, FX Technology Provider, FX Liquidity Provider

There are several ways that an STP brokerage can make a profit. The broker may either charge their clients a commission ($X per $million), apply a markup to the price feed, or perhaps a combination of both.

In MT4, the commission charged to the client is typically set in deposit currency per lot ( In this article, we will be using US Dollars as deposit currency for an easy and clear explanation).
An STP brokerage can also choose to charge their clients a markup, which will be added into spread that their retail clients see. Markup is normally defined as points added per lot. Markup is usually invisible to your clients and tends to be more flexible as you have the ability to adjust the markup according to market conditions.

Topics: Traders, FX Liquidity, Forex Brokerage, Start Your Own Forex Brokerage, Brokerage, Forex B2B, STP, MT4, Wholesale FX, FX Liquidity Provider, Retail Trader, Retail Broker, Institutional Trader, Institutional Broker

Traditionally, December is the month when the majority of FX professionals take some well-deserved time off. Fund Managers are avoiding any major market participation that could negatively impact annual return statistics; bank employees are trying to use up their remaining vacation time, and the overall the spirit of holidays (Christmas, Hanukkah, Omisoka, Kwanzaa, and many others) makes December the perfect time to relax ahead of the January hype.

Topics: FX Liquidity, Platforms & Technology, Start Your Own Forex Brokerage, SYOB, FX Broker Startup, STP, MT5, MT4, Wholesale FX, FX Technology Provider, FX Liquidity Provider, Institutional Trader, Institutional Broker

FIX (Financial Information Exchange) API (application programming interface) is a highly scalable electronic communication protocol to facilitate the real-time exchange of information related to financial markets. It has become the de facto standard method of pre-trade, trade and post-trade communication. Market participants including banks, hedge funds, prime brokers and “prime of primes” utilize FIX for their own trading needs or to connect directly to clients.

To give you an indication as to how popular FIX is: the FIX Trader Community has around 110 000 registered members and 275 corporate members (including Goldman Sachs, Barclays, Morgan Stanley and so on).

Topics: Platforms & Technology, Thought Leadership, Start Your Own Forex Brokerage, SYOB, FX Broker Startup, Forex B2B, FX Technology Provider, FX Liquidity Provider, FIX API, Institutional Trader, Institutional Broker

The foreign exchange (FX) market now generates more than $5 trillion a day, making it the largest market in the world from a volume standpoint, surpassing any other market in the world.*
Over the past few years the opportunities and successes in the foreign exchange market have attracted a significant number of investors and traders. The growth in the number of Forex brokers during this time is attributable to the fact that they have realized the tremendous revenue opportunity that is there for them when they own a brokerage rather than simply introducing clients. The increased number of start-up Forex brokers over the last decade is evidence that more and more FX entrepreneurs are finding it more profitable to run their own businesses rather than continuing to funnel business to larger brokers via traditional IB arrangements.

Topics: Forex Brokerage, Start Your Own Forex Brokerage, SYOB, FX Broker Startup, FX Technology Provider, FX Liquidity Provider, Institutional Trader, Institutional Broker, FX Jurisdictions

Over the past few years the traditional FX Prime Broker industry has been thinning out, creating a demand for the types of services they provided. The loss of the institutional big bank Prime Brokerage services has occurred due to credit risk, small profit margin, risk aversion and new regulation. This reaction by those larger prime brokers has been clearing the way for specialized FX Prime of Prime (PoP) firms to gain market share. A Prime of Prime brokerage is a one stop shop for retail brokerages, hedge funds, money managers and wholesale traders to access top tiered global bank liquidity, cutting edge technology, cost effective rollover rates and clearing services.

Topics: Traders, Thought Leadership, Forex Brokerage, Prime of Prime, Brokerage, FX Liquidity Provider, Institutional Trader, Institutional Broker