It is hard enough to produce a solid track record and to generate consistent profits as an FX trader, so why make it harder on yourself?

It’s my opinion that, for a long time, FX industry regulations were grossly inadequate, as the regulators seemed unprepared to protect its most vulnerable segment, the retail trader. When a novice trader opens a retail brokerage account, most, but not all, are unaware that their broker is on the other side of the trade and therefore 100% against them.

Topics: Traders, Thought Leadership, Forex Brokerage, Forex B2B, Crypto Currency, Institutional Trader, Institutional Broker

While crypto is starting to be a regular subject of discussion even amongst non crypto believers, the increased demand and interest in cryptocurrencies requires more computer power to verify transactions on the blockchain. Therefore an increasing need in crypto mining farms. But what is Crypto Mining and what challenges are in front of us ?

Topics: Traders, Thought Leadership, Forex Brokerage, Forex B2B, Crypto Currency, Institutional Trader, Institutional Broker, Bitcoin

A Payment Processor is a company that acts as a kind of mediator between the bank and the merchant, in a transaction. The payment ecosystem is complex with different terms and processes to get used to. Today I’m going to discuss various terms used in the online payments and a simple guide to the entire payment process. 

Topics: Traders, Thought Leadership, Forex Brokerage, Forex B2B, Institutional Trader, Institutional Broker, Payment Gateway

Coinbase Background

Coinbase Global, Inc., known as Coinbase, is an American company that offers a cryptocurrency exchange platform and operates remotely - the first company of its kind without an official, physical headquarters. The company was founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam from a $150K start up incubator.

As of March 2021, Coinbase was the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States by trading volume and has almost 43 million verified users. (almost 4 times that of Robinhood).

Topics: Traders, Industry Trends, Thought Leadership, Forex B2B, Institutional Trader, Institutional Broker, Coinbase

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

FIX API has been a trending phrase amongst Forex professionals for the past decade. The technology has proven to be the fastest and one of the most secure ways to trade in FX.
A FIX API is an application programming interface (API) that uses FIX protocol. It connects FX Liquidity makers with takers. In our case, FX FIX API is a way to connect directly with a particular Liquidity Provider or aggregator.

Topics: Traders, Industry Trends, Forex Brokerage, Start Your Own Forex Brokerage, Brokerage, SYOB, FX Broker Startup, Forex B2B, MiFID2, Wholesale FX, FIX API, Retail 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

2018 was a challenging year for retail FX brokerages with many of them being sold over the counter and others struggling to implement the new rules mandated by regulators.

What we can say is that 2018 was first and foremost a year of new regulation. Legal teams have been working hard to structure businesses differently and/or adapt to the new rules. Quiet contrary to the goals of the regulators’ goals, offshore is once more becoming the broker’s common strategy, especially to continue to offer high leverage to retail clients.

Topics: Traders, Industry Trends, Thought Leadership, Forex Brokerage, Brokerage, Forex B2B, Regulation, MiFID, MiFID2, Retail Trader, Retail Broker, Institutional Trader, Institutional Broker

I thought it would be useful to compile a short list of the main differences found when trading OTC (over-the-counter) FX with an STP (Straight Through Processing / No Dealing Desk) “Prime of Prime” and a Retail brokerage.

The differences can be categorized as follows:

- Vetting / Onboarding
- Netting vs Hedging
- Deposits
- Execution

Topics: Traders, Thought Leadership, Forex Brokerage, Brokerage, Forex B2B, STP, Wholesale FX, Retail Trader, Retail Broker, Institutional Trader, Institutional Broker

I’m sure there aren’t many industry peers who have managed to escape the MIFID 2 avalanche this past year and, perhaps only the frenzy surrounding crypto currencies, ICO and Bitcoin comes close to the boiling hot MIFID 2 topic in 2017.

For the better half of 2017, brokers and trading firms, falling under the reach of MIFID 2, were very busy implementing the parameters and protocol needed in order for them to comply with the new regulatory standards.

Topics: Traders, Forex Brokerage, Brokerage, Regulation, MiFID, MiFID2, Retail Trader, Retail Broker, Institutional Trader, Institutional Broker

As January 3, 2018 approaches, FX industry participants are busy reading through the new financial laws of “Markets in Financial Instruments Directive” (MiFID 2) in an attempt to understand how these will affect them going forward.

Originally, MiFID was created following the 2008 financial crisis in an effort to standardize the regulatory disclosures for particular markets. MiFID 2 came along with a revised set of standards which will enforce transparency, enhance investor protection and expand reporting to regulators, effectively changing the way that Europe’s secondary markets function. The significance of these changes should not be underestimated as the regulatory expectations of higher quality data sets will most likely lead to more regulatory issues and fines.

Topics: Traders, Forex Brokerage, Brokerage, Regulation, MiFID, MiFID2, Retail Trader, Retail Broker, Institutional Trader, Institutional Broker

MAM is an acronym for Multi Account Manager, a plugin originally designed for the Meta Trader 4 Platform to allow the proportional (or any set) profit and loss distribution from Fund Manager (or Master) to Investors (or Sub Accounts).

The Master Account serves as the primary (and the only real) trading account, and sub accounts receive the results of the actions performed on the Master Account (only proportional COPIES of the original trades).

Topics: Traders, Forex Brokerage, Start Your Own Forex Brokerage, Brokerage, SYOB, FX Broker Startup, Forex B2B, MT5, MT4, MetaTrader, Institutional Trader, Institutional Broker

With the deadline for MiFID II implementation fast approaching, a lot of confusion and uncertainty still exists within the FX Industry.
MiFID II regulation is divided into several distinct rule sets with the legislation applying to a broad range of financial industry players, those who provide investment services, such as investment banks, portfolio managers and brokers, and intermediaries such as inter-dealer brokers and market-makers.
The main objective of MiFID II is to ensure the fair, effective and safe operation of financial markets. Failure to comply with the directive could result in significant fines.

Topics: Traders, Forex Brokerage, Start Your Own Forex Brokerage, Regulation, MiFID, MiFID2, Institutional Trader, Institutional Broker

The MetaTrader 4 Bridge is one of the most popular add-ons for MT4 Servers. It was created in early 2000 and, ever since then, there have been many rumors as to who actually developed the first commercial version (of course, many industry veterans know the name).

MetaTrader 5 bridges are now beginning to emerge, and the speed of their development is directly correlated with the very recent growth in MT5 adoption rates.

Topics: Traders, Platforms & Technology, Thought Leadership, Forex Brokerage, Brokerage, MT5, MT4, MetaTrader, Institutional Trader, Institutional Broker

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

In 2016, we have seen some incredible market dislocation due to various global events (BREXIT, US Elections, OPEC, GBP Flash Crash, FOMC to name a few).
Having experienced my fair share of these moves, I find myself in a unique position to be able to speak with a diverse group of market participants, ranging from Fund Managers to Hedge Funds and individual traders, each of them trying to successfully navigate through these turbulent markets.

Recently, I have found myself in conversations with seasoned industry veterans who asked for my advice on what I thought would be the next shoe to drop?

Topics: Traders, Thought Leadership, Forex Brokerage, Algo Trading, Manual Trading, Retail Trader, Retail Broker, Institutional Trader, Institutional Broker

There are many Forex terms a FX Professional have to know to do a great job and to be successful. In order to help Brokers and Traders to get to know the basics of the FX industry, the Advanced Markets Team created this glossary. 
Discover the Advanced Markets FX dictionary here and feel free to contact us if you want us to add further terms!

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

Topics: Traders, Thought Leadership, Forex Brokerage, Start Your Own Forex Brokerage, Brokerage, SYOB, FX Broker Startup, Forex B2B, Retail Trader, Retail Broker, Institutional Trader, Institutional Broker

Topics: Traders

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

On January 15, 2015, the SNB (Swiss National Bank) caused a massive upheaval in the FX industry when they manipulated the exchange rate of the franc and unpegged their currency against the euro.
This action threw the markets into complete panic, ultimately producing capitulation with the CHF pairs and creating catastrophic losses throughout the industry. Market participants were affected across the entire spectrum, all the way from the top tiered global banks down to individual investors.
The large banks and market makers were able to absorb the losses (or major gains if B Book), but the smaller, more vulnerable, participants could not.
Some brokerages were forced to close their doors due to negative balances as a result of the losses sustained from their client’s positions. A multitude of firms such as Alpari UK, Boston Prime, Excel Markets and Liquid Markets became insolvent, just to name a few.

Topics: Traders, Thought Leadership, Forex Brokerage, Start Your Own Forex Brokerage, Brokerage, SYOB, FX Broker Startup, Forex B2B, Retail Trader, Retail Broker, Institutional Trader, Institutional Broker

Our team has a combined 100 years plus experience in institutional FX and prime brokerage fields. We use that experience and proven insights to work with FX brokerages and asset managers to enhance their offerings and achieve better operational efficiencies. At Advanced Markets and Fortex our focus will remain on helping you to solve complex problems and grow your business by leveraging superior Fortex technology and best of breed liquidity from Advanced Markets.

Topics: Traders, Company, Thought Leadership, Prime of Prime, Brokerage